Introduction

The introduction reveals the paucity and lag of comparative studies in literature between Africa and Latin America. It argues that the temporal lapse regarding the colonial/postcolonial trajectories of Latin America and Africa does not prevent meaningful comparative projects that chart the histories of violence in colonial histories and nation-building projects in these spaces. Peru and the Congo, therefore, constitute signposts of violent histories that underlie political and economic trajectories of otherwise continental histories. After underlining the unique trans-continental nature of the study, the introduction maps out structural and genealogical approaches to violence as appropriate theoretical prisms that enhance our understanding of spectacular, somatic as well as sedimented/sanitised forms of violence with enduring impact on subject bodies and on the body politic of African and Latin American societies.