@article{7553a175e4634ca5b3575688758c97b2,
title = "In defence of community? long-distance localism and transnational political engagement between the US and the Peruvian Andes",
abstract = "This article takes its point of departure in an incident of communal violence in the rural Peruvian community of Urcumarca to discuss the transnational political engagements of a group of Andean migrants from this community based in Maryland and Washington DC. As inhabitants of rural Peru, only a few Urcumarquinos have historically exercised full citizenship in their country of origin prior to migration. It is argued that, while the particular incidence of economically supporting the legal process following the violent incident in Urcumarca may be taken as evidence of the development of 'diasporic citizenship' among US-based migrants, it is important to understand such political practices as a continuation of local struggles against economic and juridical marginalisation within Peru.",
keywords = "Ajusticiamientos, Diasporic Citizenship, Peru, The US, Translocalism, Transnational Migration",
author = "Berg, {Ulla D.}",
note = "Funding Information: The name of the village as well as informants{\textquoteright} names have been replaced with pseudonyms to protect subjects{\textquoteright} confidentiality. When citing the newspaper reports of the linchamiento below, all identifying markers of Urcumarca have also been changed. Among some of the more sensationalist local newspaper headings were: {\textquoteleft}Andean justice in Urcumarca-Jauja: Two thieves burned alive!{\textquoteright} (El Correo, 31 March 1999) and {\textquoteleft}When they agonized, they were burned to death{\textquoteright} (El Correo, 1 April 1999). This kind of postwar communal violence became common in highland Peru (and elsewhere) following the civil war, which caused the death and disappearance of around 69,000 Peruvians and more than one million internally displaced between 1980 and 2000 (Comisi{\'o}n de la Verdad y Reconciliaci{\'o}n 2004: 17). However, there have also been cases of ajusticiamientos in this region prior to the civil war*most notably the case of the Comunidad Huayanay, Huancavelica, in 1975. El Correo, Huancayo, 31 March 1999. The materials from which this article draws stem from my PhD research in Peru and the US carried out between 2004 and 2005. The project was generously funded by a doctoral dissertation grant from the Danish Social Science Research Council and an Individual Research Grant from the Wenner Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research. As a domain of practice and an analytical concept, the concept of {\textquoteleft}diasporic citizenship{\textquoteright} goes beyond the notion of {\textquoteleft}dual citizenship{\textquoteright} (the right to enjoy rights and privileges in the country of origin as well as in the country of residence) in that it operates in a transnational field of action. Unlike dual citizenship, it is not a serial, but a simultaneous process (Laguerre 1998: 169). Peru has recognised dual citizenship since the 1993 modification of the Peruvian constitution, which includes an article (Art. 53) stating that Peruvians by birth who adopt another nationality do not lose their Peruvian nationality unless they explicitly renounce it. The US also accepts but does not encourage dual citizenship. It is clear from Goldring{\textquoteright}s argument that research design and the focus of analysis have implications for the conclusions one can draw on this topic. She states: {\textquoteleft}Without the combined attention to the gender and the geography of citizenship in transnational contexts,",
year = "2008",
month = sep,
doi = "10.1080/13691830802230414",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "34",
pages = "1091--1108",
journal = "Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies",
issn = "1369-183X",
publisher = "Routledge",
number = "7",
}