Shifting Imaginaries of 'Good Citizens': Governing Citizens in 20th Century Peru

The central argument of the dissertation is that citizenship, and conceptions of the 'good citizen,' are reconfigured in different ways through varied programs of reform, on the basis of changing 'truths' about progress and development. Drawing upon the analytical tools offered by governmentality studies, it starts from the view that 'the citizen' is not a fixed subject, making it possible to inquire into how it is imagined and reformed as part of shifting strategies of government. It juxtaposes different narratives of 'good citizenship' at distinct moments in the history of Peru during the 20th and 21st centuries, focusing on how these are operationalized through specific programs, and the underlying bodies of knowledge. It first contrasts moral-racial narratives of citizenship in the first part of the 20th century, at a time when national integration and the problem of 'the Indian' were central concerns, with the ways in which Peruvian citizens were re-imagined in the early second part of the 20th century, as questions of progress and integration were reformulated as technical problems of economic development and 'national security.' It then shows how new narratives of responsible citizenship came to prevail in the late 20th and early 21st century, redefining the 'good citizen' in terms of the capacity to manage various 'risks.' It explores two dimensions of this--the re-orientation of social development programs towards individual 'asset accumulation' and new citizen responsibilities for direct oversight of budgets and services as a form of social accountability. In showing the contingency of 'the good Peruvian citizen' vis-a-vis shifting problems of government and development, the dissertation seeks to de-stabilize contemporary practices of citizen oversight, which have become a widespread solution to problems of accountability and social development but have received little critical attention to date. This in turn makes it possible to ask questions about the assumptions that underpin different programs, what types of actions and behaviours are legitimated or fostered and conversely what is precluded. In using the tools offered by governmentality to raise questions about citizenship in new sites, the dissertation also contributes to an emerging body of governmentality-inspired research on the region.