Emotions and politics: the practice of terruqueo in the 2022-2023 protests in Peru

Abstract

After Pedro Castillo left the Peruvian Presidency, a political climate of exception was established which sought to justify state repression. This process was supported by the terruqueo, a stigmatization practice that aims to associate an individual or group with terrorism, in reference to the times of internal armed conflict (1980-2000). This article aims to analyze the meanings and impacts of this device as part of an affective politics, investigating how the production and circulation of emotions (fear, pain, hatred and disgust) contributed to the construction of the “other” in the protests of December 2022 to February 2023. To this end, it examines official statements, journalistic materials, reports and social media posts from that period. The reflections are based on atmospheric studies, which, with the concept of climate, focus on the affective tonalities and the emotions sedimented in collective memory, and on Sarah Ahmed’s contributions to the role of the economy of affections in the social disposition of bodies. The terruqueo is analyzed through the mechanisms for managing moods and attuning beings to their surroundings.