The field for this project was carried out in two trips. The first period was in 1997 and lasted eight months. The second was in 2000, and was carried out ever four months. Most of the 1997 trip was spent doing fieldwork in the district of Tambo, although I took every opportunity to travel to as many othe areas of the department of Ayacucho as I could. In 2000 I spent the majorityof my time in Huamanga, the departamental capital, conducting participant observation in the midst of an unfolding political crisis. I also used part of that time for research in various libraries and governmental institutions in Huamanga. The wide space of time between the two fieldwork periods permitted me to place many of my early observations into a broader historical context of process change. By spacing my fieldwork periods far apart, I have been able to make use time´s passing in order to digest and to reflect on the material I had gathered, thereby gaining a clearer understanding of the data that was not possible at the time fieldwork was being done.
The material for this book comes from three principal sources. First, from structured and semi-strucutured interviews and impromptu discussions with common people, as well as with local and regional decision makers. My informants included displaced peasants, some of whom at the time were active militia members; local -and regional- level militia commanders, both active and retired; peasant community authorities, incumbent and retired mayors of Tambo, and the district governor in 1997.