From coca to cocoa: Conflicts, violence and hegemonic compromises in the turbulent Peruvian Amazonia settlement process: The case of Tocache

Abstract

This article analyses the role of conventions, compromises and even violence in the intricate bio-social construction process of cocoa cultivation in the province of Tocache in the Peruvian Amazonia. This article discusses the different phases of the settlement process and its social, institutional and environmental bases. Specifically, the analysis focuses on the dramatic abandonment of coca cultivation and its replacement by alternative crops such as cocoa. Emphasis is placed on the centrality of agents’ normative coherence and coordination. For over 50 years, the civic–market compromise has framed agents’ discourses and actions, although it has sometimes been ostensibly distorted. This framing effect has also occurred in circumstances with considerable recourse to violence and armed conflict. Thus, this article focuses not only on justification processes but also on what happens ‘after justification’ and on how violent situations can coexist with discursive constructions with a relevant normative element.