ABSTRACT
How did the Peruvian truth and reconciliation commission and reparation program affect social cohesion in post-conflict communities? This chapter analyzes this question in a comparison of ten rural communities and offers new insights on the microlevel. With the help of the developed social cohesion indicator, I elaborate on sociologies of the villages. Every village has its own history of violence and its distinct set of circumstances. According to the research design, some have higher levels of attention from transitional justice measures, and others have lower levels of attention. The empirical findings of the different settings challenge the widely shared assumptions behind the search for truth and reparations. The work of the TRC is mainly connected with the hope for reparations. Communal reparation projects with milk cows, fish, or water projects did not work out in most of the cases and did not meet the needs and expectations of the violence-affected people. Individual reparations have hardly been paid and villagers are still awaiting their recognition. Social cohesion is very weak and has not been strengthened by these measures.
