Chikichapuska: las imágenes oníricas del mal augurio en tiempos de violencia política en la provincia de La Mar, Ayacucho

Abstract

Within contexts of violence, dream interpretations acquire new meanings and are reinvented in order to contain or represent traumatic stress originating in absence, loss, death, torture, etc. In these interpretations, the dreamer characterizes signifiers in oneiric images, causing the dream plot to become diffuse. Likewise, those interpreters who are immersed as direct or indirect victims refuse to give responses due to the ambiguities of the inquiry. The object of this study centers upon the oneiric experiences of victims of political violence in the province of La Mar, Ayacucho, in order to determine how dreams thought to contain bad omens, or “chikichay”, are transmuted, elide their meanings, and become unintelligible within political chaos. The research employs an ethnographic approach, drawing upon interviews with the population affected by violence during the period 1980-1990 aswell as examination of the interviews conducted by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (CVR). Finally, it aims to understand transformation in dream interpretation and the dimension and social use of bad omen dreams from the speaker’s perspective. This entails approaching the research from an anthropological vantage.