Reflexiones psicoanalíticas sobre la Violencia y el poder en Perú (Psychoanalytic Reflections on Violence and Power in Peru). By Luis Herrera Abad. Lima:  Biblioteca Peruana de Psichoanálisis, 2018,  165 pp.

Luis Herrera Abad is a member of the Peruvian Psychoanalytic Society and a training analyst. He has been both Scientific Secretary and President of the Peruvian Psychoanalytic Association. He teaches and supervises at the society and at several local universities. He has been particularly interested in the topic of psyche and society. In Psychoanalytic Reflections on Violence and Power in Peru , Herrera Abad takes on the challenge of using psychoanalytic theory to decipher the complex themes that have configured Peruvian social reality in the last decades. In this he follows in the footsteps of authors with similar theoretical backgrounds, notably Saul Peña and Max Hernandez. Both Peña and Hernandez are British-trained psychoanalysts. Peña, a founder of the Peruvian Psychoanalytic Society, has also addressed the issue of corruption in Peru. Hernandez's work has addressed historical issues, poverty, racism, and the mixing of races in Peru.

The country has experienced intense violence in recent decades, though few psychoanalytic texts have explored this theme. Herrera Abad noticed, however, that social scientists and philosophers exploring violence in Peru used a language similar to that of psychoanalysis, and in fact at times used psychoanalytic concepts. For example, Michel Foucault suggests that power does not exist without resistance, and adds that political power is linked strictly to family and sexual relations. Foucault (1979) argues that discipline increases the body's economic capacities, making it more