Maoism in the Andes: The Communist Party of Peru-Shining Path and the Refusal of History

Abstract

Abstract This article examines the history and ideology of the Communist Party of Peru-Shining Path ( Sendero Luminoso ). The rebels claim to embody a distinctively Peruvian Marxism. However, a close examination of the party betrays a conspicuous indifference to Peruvian culture and traditions. The distinctiveness of this largest and most diverse of the Andean nations disappears in the orthodoxy of a universal Marxism, in this respect placing the Shining Path within the long legacy of the imperial inscription of Latin American history into the preconceived categories and linear narratives of Western philosophy and science.