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This essay explores the local dynamics of race and class in Ayacucho, Peru on the eve of the Shining Path guerrilla insurgency. Covering the forty-year span leading up to the armed conflict, this case study cautions against portraying indigenous-mestizo, comunero-vecino relations as purely antagonistic. While some mestizo power holders did in fact clash with Ayacucho's indigenous peasantry in the years preceding the insurrection, others exhibited a remarkable adherence to Andean codes of reciprocity and paternalism. During the period of political violence that followed, Andean peasants tended to submit abusive mestizo elites to Shining Path's justice while defending and deferring to the authority of those who had respected these cultural codes. This approach challenges scholars to look beyond racial and class conflict and consider the degree to which amicable power relationships also impact historical processes.
