Making danger a calling: anthropology, violence and the dilemmas of participant observation

This paper contains reflections on the experience of fieldwork carried out in Nicaragua into urban gangs in Managua. It examines the dilemmas encountered by an anthropologist employing participant observation, in which he became accepted as a member of a gang. In the process, it provides an original insight into the inner workings of such urban gangs

Dying for it: gangs, violence, and social change in urban Nicaragua

Youth gangs potentially constitute an ideal lens through which to explore the dynamics and ramifications of the new political economy of violence in Latin America, and this paper consequently presents and ethnographic case study of an urban Nicaraguan youth gang. It employs data derived from participant observation research conducted in 1996-97 and 2002 in a low-income neighbourhood in Managua. The first part of the paper provides a brief overview of crime and violence in contemporary urban Nicaragua, exploring some of its socio-economic consequences and situating gang violence within it. The second part offers an account of the neighbourhood's youth gang as it existed in 1996-97, followed by a description of the gang in 2002, focusing on violent gang practices. The third section considers the nature of these two manifestations of the gang and the general evolution of the gang between 1997 and 2002 from an institutional point of view

Separate but Equal Democratization? Participation, Politics, and Urban Segregation in Latin America

Many commentators have noted the existence of a historical correlation between cities and democratization. This image of the city as an inherently civic space is linked to the notion that the spatial concentration intrinsic to urban contexts promotes a democracy of proximity. Seen from this perspective, it is perhaps not surprising that the most urbanized region of the global south, Latin America, is also a heartland of vibrant and much applauded democratic innovation. Of particular note are the myriad local level ‘radical democracy’ initiatives that have proliferated throughout the region’s cities during the past two decades. At the same time, however, it is a significant paradox that Latin American urban centres are also amongst the most segregated in the world, something that is widely considered to have a significantly fragmenting effect on public space, and is therefore undermining of democracy.democracy, urbanization, segregation, Latin America

Urban Violence Is not (Necessarily) a Way of Life

As the world moves towards its so-called urban ‘tipping point’, urbanization in the global South has increasingly come to be portrayed as the portent of a dystopian future characterized by ever-mounting levels of anarchy and brutality. The association between cities, violence, and disorder is not new, however. In a classic article on ‘Urbanism as a way of life’, Louis Wirth (1938: 23) famously links cities to ‘personal disorganization, mental breakdown, suicide, delinquency, crime, corruption, and disorder’. He does so on the grounds that the urban context constituted a space that naturally generated particular forms of social organization and collective action as a result of three key attributes: population size, density, and heterogeneity. Large numbers lead to a segmentation of human relations, the pre-eminence of secondary over primary social contact, and a utilitarianization of interpersonal relationships. Density produces increased competition, accelerates specialization, and engenders glaring contrasts that accentuate social friction. Heterogeneity induces more ramified and differentiated forms of social stratification, heightened individual mobility, and increased social fluidity. While large numbers, density, and heterogeneity can plausibly be considered universal features of cities, it is much less obvious that they necessarily lead to urban violence. This is a standpoint that is further reinforced by the fact that not all cities around the world – whether rapidly urbanizing or not – are violent, and taking off from Wirth’s characterization of the city, this paper therefore seeks to understand how and why under certain circumstances compact settlements of large numbers of heterogeneous individuals give rise to violence, while in others they don’t, focusing in particular on wider structural factors as seen through the specific lens of urban gang violence.urbanism, violence, gangs, Chicago School of Sociology, Wirth

Broderes in Arms: Gangs and the Socialization of Violence in Post-conflict Nicaragua (SWP 31)

This paper explores various ways in which gang members in post-conflict Nicaragua have internalized and put into practice a range of violent behaviour patterns over the past two decades. It shows how different types of gang violence can be related to distinct forms of socialization, tracing how these particular articulations have changed over time, often for very contingent reasons. As such, the paper highlights the need to conceive the socialization of violence within gangs as a dynamic and contextualized process, and suggests drawing on the notion of “repertoire” as a means of meaningfully representing this

Henry Alexander Wise, Minister to Brazil, 1844-1847

Henry Wise played an important role in local, state, and national affairs for forty years. He is best remembered as the Governor of Virginia who was responsible for the hanging of John Brown; however, he distinguished himself as a congressman, general, and foreign minister. I have chosen to examine and emphasize Wise\u27s career as Minister to Brazil, 1844-1847. The first chapter of the thesis, however, will provide a biographical sketch of Henry A. Wise. Wise was born and reared in my native county, Accomack. Although a man of great achievements, he is not well known in the county today. I have always been curious concerning the history of my area, which is long and distinguished. When I started reading about Wise, I found that very little had been written concerning his service in Brazil. In most writings dealling with Wise, the only mention of his diplomatic career concerns his attempt to abolish the illegal slave trade. The paradox of Wise, the slave owner and spokesman of slavery in the United States, and Wise, the ardent anti-slave trade American diplomat in Brazil, interests me. It is my hope that this thesis will shed some light on Wise, the diplomat. I intend to show that Wise\u27s personality was not compatible with the diplomatic service. He was too straight-forward, too impatient, and probably too stubborn to be an able diplomat. He was, however, hardworking, honest, and dedicated to his country. I hope to present Wise as a man who did his best in a situation that was simply not suited to his talents

Standing on the shoulders of giants? Anthropology and the city

It has become increasingly commonplace to note that the past decade has witnessed a proliferation of anthropological studies dealing holistically with the dynamics of cities and city-living, to the extent that the current moment is considered to represent something of an epistemological ‘flourishing’ within anthropology, particularly in relation to the benchmark of the discipline’s historical urban mainstay, the neighbourhood ethnography. Studies explicitly offering a window onto the broader nature of urban contexts are not necessarily new, however, and indeed, were arguably the basis upon which urban anthropology originally emerged as an identifiable sub-discipline before subsequently taking a more particularistic turn. This article offers a re-appraisal of the origins and evolution of holistic urban anthropological approaches, explaining how, why, and in what context these coalesced during the first quarter of the 20th century, as well as offering an explanation for the ensuing rise of more parochial approaches to city life. It does so based on an alternative intellectual history of the famous Chicago School of Sociology (CSS), in particular highlighting the epistemological debt contemporary anthropological studies implicitly owe to the CSS, as well as the enduring lessons that the urban studies it inspired potentially continue to offer for anthropology

Can film offer an(other) authoritative source of development knowledge?

David Lewis, Dennis Rodgers, and Michael Woolcock discuss the depiction of development in film and outline some of the potential pitfalls associated with film as a representational medium for development concerns

From ‘civil’ to ‘civic’ conflict? Violence and the city in ‘fragile states’

By past International development, LSE staff members: Tom Goodfellow, Dennis Rodgers & Jo Beal