Challenging much received wisdom about nation-states - how they form, what sustains them, why they fail - this study of subaltern social groups in the Chachapoyas region of Peru analyses the emergence of the modern nation-state 'from below.' By approaching nation-state formation from the perspective of the subaltern, the book offers a critique of scholarship that sees coercion and the imposition of social and cultural forms as the core of nation-state expansion. Based on extensive interviews with subaltern political activists and a detailed study of a previously neglected documentary record, the book offers a compelling new perspective on the drive toward modernity, the formation of the nation-state, and the participation of subaltern groups in these processes.--Publisher description.