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a central issue in the interpretation of genealogies, namely the patternsof differential response manifested by the different family branches. TheJiménez case brings this out graphically.The decline and imminent disintegration of the original Jiménez familyenterprise over the past thirty years can be attributed in large part to theinternal dynamics and social differentiation of the family. It is also duein no small measure to the more general economic and political forces atwork in Peru during that same period.The enterprise fared reasonably well until the beginning of the 1980s,when it was plainly clear that earlier government policies aimed atredressing the inequalities of landholding and property ownership, firstthrough land reform and revitalizing co-operative modes of organization,and then through encouraging the privatization of community lands andmarket-led enterprise development, had failed to bring any prosperity orstability to the highlands. The first scenario had resulted in an increasedpresence of the state in the shaping of regional and local development.The second was marked by a decrease in direct state intervention, leadingto a severe cutback of government services relating to activities such asextension, credit and technical inputs. Hence both policies contributed toa worsening of the economic conditions in the highlands and the countryat large, and to a growing national debt exacerbated by financial and othermismanagement. This increased the vulnerability not only of the ruraland urban poor but also of the middle sector, including teachers and othergovernment employees, the self employed, and owners and workers inmedium and small industries.In the face of increasing livelihood difficulties and poverty, which wasespecially concentrated among the rural highland population and in thepoor urban settlements surrounding the large cities throughout Peru, thereemerged various forms of social unrest. Eventually this took the shapeof direct-armed resistance to the state, mounted primarily by SenderoLuminoso (Shining Path). Although in the early days the insurgency didnot unduly affect the Mantaro region, by the end of the 1980s and until itpeaked in 1992 it had massive repercussions for the people of the Mantarovalley, its surrounding pastoral highlands, and the city of Huancayo.Not surprisingly these economic and political events disrupted the runningof Jiménez’s enterprise. It must also have affected decisions made bymembers of the family as to whether to return to Peru from the U.S., orto the village from Lima, or concomitantly to leave Matahuasi for saferhavens. At certain times members of the Jiménez family in Matahuasi45