ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the meaning and uses made by Peru’s rural population of the lexical phrases “marginal” and “marginal community.” I argue that these words and the discourse they have generated is the legacy of the Comisión de la Verdad y la Reconciliación [Truth and Reconciliation Commission] (CRV) and post-armed conflict discourse, which the actors in rural communities have redefined. Towards this end, I analyze how there is an accepted partial subordination with the purpose of being heard and acknowledged by the state. Beyond its uses and intentions, labeling rural Quechua speakers as “marginal” reinscribes and reproduces subordination and the animosity manifested toward them by dominant Peruvian society. Furthermore, when residents of the observed community use the term, they also reproduce an accepted partial subordination, which has as its end to be listened to and cared for by the government.
