City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects 5-2019 Working Lives: Artistic Solidarity in Revolutionary Peru (1960–1980) Jose R. Chavarry The Graduate Center, City University of New York How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/3253 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] WORKING LIVES: ARTISTIC SOLIDARITY IN REVOLUTIONARY PERU (1960-1980) by JOSÉ R. CHÁVARRY A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Latin American, Iberian and Latino Cultures in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor in Philosophy, The City University of New York 2019 © 2019 JOSÉ R. CHÁVARRY All Rights Reserved ii Working Lives: Artistic Solidarity in Revolutionary Peru (1960-1980) by José R. Chávarry This manuscript has been read and accepted for the Graduate Faculty in Latin American, Iberian and Latino Cultures in satisfaction of the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. 4/29/19 _____________________________ Fernando Degiovanni Chair of Examining Committee 4/29/19 _____________________________ Fernando Degiovanni Executive Officer Supervisory Committee: Silvia Dapía Magdalena Perkowska THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK iii ABSTRACT Working Lives: Artistic Solidarity in Revolutionary Peru (1960-1980) by José R. Chávarry Adivsor: Fernando Degiovanni This dissertation examines the discourses and experiences of cultural work as a form of intellectual and artistic solidarity in Peru during the 1960s and 1970s. Amid the broader Latin American and global spirit of revolution, anti-imperialism and Third World liberation, in Peru these decades saw a radical transformation in society where rural and urban masses rose against a traditional political and socioeconomic system that maintained colonial structures of domination and oppression of marginalized populations. In an attempt to rein in this desborde popular, as it became known, the nationalist and populist Revolutionary Government of the Armed Forces and a consolidating Left sought to include these masses into their hegemonic projects. In this context of revolution, a number of intellectuals and artists (writers, poetic collectives, filmmakers) looked for novel ways to demonstrate their solidarity with the masses, both by representing work and by performing as workers. In doing so, these cultural producers sought to close the gap between manual and intellectual labor, thus creating sites for identification and collaboration with the mobilizing rural and urban populations. For the likes of novelists José María Arguedas and Manuel Scorza, the poetic movement Hora Zero, filmmaker Nora de Izcue and peasant activist Saturnino Huillca, the realm of cultural work became an arena to demonstrate solidarity through physical presence and affective connections, and to enact the promise of a more just society and a better life. iv Acknowledgements Writing this dissertation was, at the same time, an individual and a collaborative process. Individual because I spent many hours, by myself, in front of a computer or going for (very long) walks to arrange my thoughts, but collective because I never once felt alone. I am incredibly lucky to have had the opportunities I did and, more importantly, the people that were with every step of the way. I cannot offer enough thanks to all who helped, mentored and put up with me throughout these years. I am thankful to the faculty and staff of the Graduate Center. In the Latin American, Iberian and Latino Cultures program, José del Valle, for welcoming me into the department, Silvia Dapía and Magdalena Perkowska, for the invaluable insights they have given me over the years and for agreeing to form part of my committee. And of course, I am indebted to my dissertation advisor and mentor Fernando Degiovanni, for helping me develop this project, pushing me constantly and teaching me how to be a professional in this field. Working alongside with him over the last few years has been incredibly challenging and rewarding. Elsewhere at the Graduate Center, I am also thankful to Herman Bennett and the Magnet Fellowship, for all the academic and financial support they provided me with throughout the doctorate. Through them, I learned about scholarship opportunities, including the Social Science Research Council. And, thanks to the SSRC’s Dissertation Proposal Development Fellowship I was able to travel to the Benson Collection in the University of Texas, Austin to conduct archival research on the Peruvian publications from the sixties and seventies. These form an important part of my corpus, and most images included in the dissertation come from these sources. For over ten years, my professors and colleagues at Manhattan College have been an incredible network of support and friendship. Antonio Córdoba and Laura Redruello were always v available to talk, whether academic matters or regarding personal decisions, and Marlene Gottlieb always looked after me, by making sure I had classes to teach and following up on my academic progress. This journey began with their advice and belief in me. So many friends and colleagues have helped me grow intellectually and have always been there for me. At the Graduate Center, Isabel Domínguez Seoane, Charlotte Gartenberg, Kristina Jacobs, Pablo García Martínez, Laura Pavón and Ines Vañó García have been a constant source of support and love. Alexis Iparraguirre and Luis Henao have been like brothers to me and have always been there to discuss difficult concepts after class, to watch soccer or grab a beer. At home, I could not have done it without Jhojan and Barbi, Matt Flood, Amy and Luis R. In so many ways they supported me and showed me life outside of classes and conferences. And I am so thankful to Tania Avilés, for making every day so much better. A mi papá, mi hincha número uno. Y a mi mamá, mi héroe. vi Table of Contents List of images viii Introduction 1 I. Desborde popular and cultural work: Peruvian modernization and artistic solidarity 7 II. Cultural work with and for the people 24 i. Work and life 25 ii. Reframing artistic solidarity 30 Chapter 1: Communities of work in José María Arguedas 46 I. Machines and network systems in Todas las sangres 53 i. The immateriality of global capital 54 ii. Indigenous work as local resistance 57 II. Arguedas’s writing machine: intellectual self-fashioning and commitment 60 I. Bodies, machines and writing in El zorro de arriba y el zorro de abajo 71 i. Arguedas’s anthropological fiction 71 ii. Embodied work 77 iii. Writing at home 84 II. Conclusion 92 Chapter 2: “El trabajo que hacemos por los demás”: Crónica, community and the performance of solidarity in Manuel Scorza 95 I. The crónica genre 98 i. Theorizations and historical background 98 ii. Scorza’s presence in the peasant mobilizations 106 II. Infinite war and infinite debt in La guerra silenciosa 114 vii i. War and community in Redoble por Rancas 114 ii. A journey of debt 121 III. The allure of money 128 IV. Conclusion 136 Chapter 3: RUPTURA TOTAL SIEMPRE: Hora Zero’s performative poetic work 138 I. Latin American and Peruvian contexts of Hora Zero 141 i. Solidarity and youth countercultures in the neo-avant-garde 141 ii. Poetry and work 147 II. Scandal and masculinity in Hora Zero’s performative poetic work 156 i. Insult and virility in the poetic manifesto 157 ii. Cultural guerrilla warfare 161 iii. Poetic duels 165 iv. Orgies of work 168 III. Working for the Revolution 174 IV. Conclusion 180 Chapter 4: The worker onscreen: Nora de Izcue and Saturnino Huillca’s Runan Caycu 185 I. A revolution in Peruvian cinema 188 i. Film workers versus the state 188 ii. Representing workers through film 191 II. Runan Caycu: the work of the peasant actor 196 i. The testimony of the alienated worker 196 ii. Filming Runan Caycu 203 iii. The facial politics of Runan Caycu 209 viii iv. Depoliticizing Huillca? 219 III. Conclusion 225 Conclusion 229 Bibliography 243 ix List of images Figure 1. “366 oportunidades para ser peruano" 45 2. Manuel Scorza and Héctor Chacón 126 3. Saturnino Huillca 205 4. Saturnino Hullca 205 5. Saturnino Huillca 205 6. Still from Runan Caycu 210 7. Tupac Amaru and Velasco 216 8. The face-logo of Tupac Amaru 216 9. Still from Kuntur Wachana 223 10. Shining Path propaganda 233 11. Shining Path propaganda 233 x Introduction On May 15, 1963, a group of eight Peruvian guerrilleros infiltrated the small town of Puerto Maldonado, located in the Amazonian province of Madre de Dios, as members of the Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN). Among them was renowned 21-year-old poet Javier Heraud, who after a year of studying film in Havana had returned to Peru to participate in a guerrilla insurrection that intended to replicate Cuba’s successful revolution on Peruvian soil. After a few days in the jungle trying to plan their next move, the young insurgents were outmaneuvered by military officials. Attempting to escape, Heraud and one other jumped into the river, climbed aboard a raft and on it raised a white flag in surrender. According to the poet’s father, who after receiving news of his son’s fate traveled to the town, Heraud’s comrade had clamored out: “no disparen más”. Whether they were not heard by the soldiers, or their pleas simply ignored, bursts of gunfire reached both students: Heraud’s body was riddled with bullets and, to his father’s horror, an explosive shell, used to hunt large animals and whose use against humans was forbidden by war regulations, had ripped straight through his torso (12).