Social imaginaries: the sense of collective identity and institutional referents in communal governments of Pasco, post armed conflict 2024-2025

Abstract

The research in question is titled: Social Imaginaries: The Sense of Collective Identity and Institutional Frameworks in Pasco’s Community Governments, Post-Armed Conflict 2024–2025. Its overall objective was to analyze the social imaginary regarding the sense of collective identity and the institutional frameworks that reaffirm its relevance in Pasco’s community governments following the armed conflict. The research employed a primarily qualitative approach, with a narrative and phenomenological design; the unit of analysis consisted of influential actors in the development of communal governance. The findings revealed that, in the post-conflict context, the communal government has established itself as the primary institutional reference point by representing an authority that is its own, accessible, and legitimized by collective experience. Unlike external entities, it is perceived as an expression of the community, which allows it to coordinate community life, rebuild trust, and strengthen social bonds affected by violence. The conclusions reached by this study reveal that local government enables the community to envision a collective future and transform the experience of harm into a process of reconstruction, renewing the community as a social project based on identity, organization, and collective hope.