Latin American History Commons^™

Foucauldian Biopolitics And Nation Making In General Juan Velasco’S Peru, 1968-1975, Hayley M. Serpa

FIU Undergraduate Research Journal

This brief academic article examines the military government of General Juan Velasco Alvarado in Peru from 1968 through 1975 via the lens of Michel Foucauld’s foundational concepts of biopolitics and biopower. It analyzes a variety of primary and secondary sources, including legal documents from Velasco’s government, state propaganda posters, economic appendixes, historiographical analyses from the time, and other important documents. By examining this varied set of documents, we are able to get a better understanding of how biopower was utilized by Velasco’s government, as best seen through the discourse they maintained, to legitimize their undemocratic hold on power. This comprehensive …