Memories before the state: Postwar Peru and the place of memory, tolerance and social inclusion By Joseph P.Feldman. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. 2021. 198 pp.

With increasing attention to truth-seeking via transitional and restorative justice, Joseph P. Feldman's recent publication, Memories Before the State: Postwar Peru and the Place of Memory, Tolerance, and Social Inclusion, provides nuanced insight into the complicated process of curating memory. Through in-depth analysis of the personal experiences of key actors in the creation of Peru's national museum, Lugar de la Memoria, la Tolerancia y la Inclusión Social (Place of Memory, Tolerance, and Social Inclusion, LUM), Feldman outlines the behind-the-scenes process of symbolic justice. Through tracing the development of the LUM, Feldman reveals the challenge of determining what we remember, whose truths are represented and how; a process made particularly challenging given the multiple points of violence fragmented along state and anti-state lines, along with continued political instability in Peru. Beginning with an overview of the DINCOTE (National Counter-Terrorism Directorate) Museum, Feldman introduces the politicized nature of memorialization. Through detailed description of the DINCOTE museum, as well as referencing additional memory projects in Peru, Feldman illustrates the power of major and minute curatorial decisions regarding context (or lack thereof), location, script, technology, and the power of objects to shape ideology; themes that resonate throughout the text. Feldman briefly outlines Peru's postwar condition, conflicting narratives of history that have emerged, early debates over funding, contentious notions of victimhood, as well as persistent delays, which illustrate political cleavages and unaddressed inequities in Peru. To demonstrate the process of enacting post conflict nationhood, Feldman closely examines the work of the LUM's first national director, Fernando Carvallo. While the individual perspective provides insight into the subjectivity of the entire process, some of the themes that emerge such as distrust, Lima elitism, and coastal indifference to the highlands, could have been expanded beyond the personal to a more direct analysis of how such issues reverberate more widely in Peruvian society with direct implications on the LUM. Feldman provides a close analysis of the development and future positioning of the Yuyanapaq photo exhibition. Originally envisioned to be a core component of the LUM, arguments arose that it was too closely aligned with the work of the Peruvian Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). By tracing the trajectory of arguments surrounding the Yuyanapaq, Feldman illustrates fractions in society and diverging national narratives about representations of Peru's past and what the LUM is slated to foster for Peru's future. Drawing from Didier Fassin and Richard Rechtman's (2009) historical study of the concept of trauma, Feldman offers a nuanced analysis of victim-survivor's experiential authority. This underscores the contradictions, distrust, and regulations within and between ANFASEP (National Association of Relatives of the Kidnapped, Detained, and Disappeared of Peru) members, LUM officials, LUM's High-Level Commission, and the armed forces, surrounding questions of who the museum is about and for. One of the greatest contributions of Feldman's analysis is his examination of how new leadership of the LUM and a participatory process surrounding the museum's script led by Ponciano del Pino and José Carlos Agüero marked a turning point in LUM's creation. By systematic acquisition and recording of reactions to the LUM's script, those impacted by the violence finally felt validated. Through openly sharing research findings, individuals were able to better understand divergent vantage points which helped to dispel distrust, demonstrated shifting narratives, and illustrated the challenge curators faced in representing conflicting histories. Avoiding a Pollyanna view of participatory approaches, Feldman also shares discontents people had with the process which underscores breadth of issues yet to be addressed within Peruvian society regarding representation, transparency, reparations, and ultimate limitations of the museum project. Bringing the work together, Feldman concludes the book with a detailed tour of the completed LUM which elucidates the outcome of the prior conflicts, contradictions, and compromises. Throughout the concluding chapter, Feldman examines how major controversies with the Peruvian TRC and Yuyanapaq, representation of victimhood, and participation of the armed state, were ultimately addressed. Feldman also offers an analysis of the overall public response to the museum. With an eye towards the future, Feldman, describes spaces created in the LUM that allow for ongoing dialogue and engagement with temporary exhibitions and a performance/meeting space, as well as the continual, often conflicting, demands on the museum to continue to curate Peru's past, present, and future. Although not a direct focus of the book, I believe that Feldman's overview of the stages of the museum's development as well as experiential authority could have been deepened through an analysis of memory, time, and trauma. He focuses primarily on political and personal terms with divergent interlocutors and competing narrative camps, and he brings in global comparisons of other memorialization projects, yet what do other examples of truth and reconciliation efforts tell us about the stages of collective memory and representation following trauma? What is unique about Andean conceptions of time and the realities of living alongside previous enemies that influenced the trajectory of representing the war in a national museum? While much has been written on the need for symbolic reparations, as well as polyvocal and collaborative participatory methodologies in museum work, few systematic analyses of how the process plays out from the top have been conducted. Feldman fills this gap. Through diving into the personal experiences behind the planning and creation of the LUM, Feldman illustrates the challenges inherent in navigating public culture and politics in the management of a difficult past. His ethnographic approach illustrates the gray zones and shifting perspectives that defy a simplified explanation while also providing keen insights into barriers as well as facilitators in creating a place of memory. Given the innumerable challenges in its creation, the LUM's ultimate completion offers a point of inspiration for a country still grappling with the ongoing implications of its dark past. Feldman's book would be of particular interest to those engaging with transitional and restorative justice, memorialization work, postcolonial museum curation, participatory methods, and the war in Peru.