Category Archives: Frontiers

Grassroots Masquerades: Development, Paramilitaries, and Land Laundering in Colombia

Posted on September 11, 2013 by Teo Ballvé

My article “Grassroots Masquerades: Development, Paramilitaries, and Land Laundering” was just published by Geoforum. The article will be out in hardcopy in Volume 50 (December 2013), but it’s already available online. The first version of the article was presented at the … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Development, Drugs, Forests, Frontiers, Illegality, Insurgency/Counterinsurgency, Land, Law, Michel Foucault, Peace, Political Ecology, Political Economy, Primitive Accumulation, The State | Comments Off on Grassroots Masquerades: Development, Paramilitaries, and Land Laundering in Colombia

Awkward Seas and Exclusive Economic Zones

Posted on April 25, 2013 by Teo Ballvé

New Left Review‘s new issue has an article by Peter Nolan that surveys the national “territorial” claims over the world’s oceans: “Imperial Archipelagos.” The sea as an awkward political space is one of those hobby interests of mine that may … Continue reading →

Posted in Boundaries, Frontiers, Historical-Geographies, Land, Law, Nation/Nationalism, Pirates, Post-Colonial, Power, Sovereignty, Spatiality, Territory, The Sea, The State | 1 Comment

Medellín: Who’s Afraid of Hip-Hop?

Posted on March 4, 2013 by Teo Ballvé

My article on hip-hop and violence in Medellín is now out: Héctor Pacheco walked down the steep hillsides of his barrio in Medellín, Colombia to wish his aunt a happy birthday. Pacheco—a local rapper nicknamed “Kolacho”—had spoken at a public … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Boundaries, City, Drugs, Everyday Life, Frontiers, Insurgency/Counterinsurgency, Security, Spatiality, Territory, Terror, The State, Violence | Comments Off on Medellín: Who’s Afraid of Hip-Hop?

Narco-Geographies, Part II: Political Ecology of the Drug Economy

Posted on February 12, 2013 by Teo Ballvé

Tim Hall has recently called on geographers to more actively study organized crime and geographies of the illicit more broadly. Paul Robbins, meanwhile, has said “the political ecology of the drug trade” (2004: 215) remains almost entirely unexplored. The ferocity … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, David Harvey, Drugs, Forests, Frontiers, Historical-Geographies, Illegality, Land, Political Ecology, Political Economy, Primitive Accumulation, Spatiality, The State | 4 Comments

Video Abstract: Territories of Life and Death

Posted on September 17, 2012 by Teo Ballvé

[youtube_sc url=”http://youtu.be/9ChdRWJkF4o”] A more in depth written description of my project is forthcoming in the pages of Antipode. Thanks to the entire Antipode crew for the award and to others for their kind words.

Posted in Frontiers, Illegality, Insurgency/Counterinsurgency, Land, Peace, Political Ecology, Race & Ethnicity, Sovereignty, Spatiality, Territory, The State, Violence | Comments Off on Video Abstract: Territories of Life and Death

Paglen: The Last Pictures

Posted on September 12, 2012 by Teo Ballvé

Experimental geographer and artist Trevor Paglen’s most experimental project (so far) must be this new thing called “The Last Pictures” (video below) and it’s about to debut in New York. The itinerary of events in the U.S. and Europe are … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Frontiers, Media, Science & Tech., Spatiality | 3 Comments

Grassroots Masquerades: ‘Bottom-Up’ Development, Land Laundering, and Frontier State Formation in Colombia

Posted on September 11, 2012 by Teo Ballvé

My abstract for what’s looking like a symposium-sized AAG session series (including fellow bloggers Stuart Elden and Gastón Gordillo) on “Violence and Space” organized by Simon Springer and Philippe Le Billon: A paramilitary commander in Urabá, a frontier region of northwest Colombia, has always … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Development, Forests, Frontiers, Illegality, Insurgency/Counterinsurgency, Land, Peace, Political Ecology, Race & Ethnicity, Security, Spatiality, The State, Violence | Comments Off on Grassroots Masquerades: ‘Bottom-Up’ Development, Land Laundering, and Frontier State Formation in Colombia

Frontiers and Deadwood as Geography

Posted on August 22, 2012 by Teo Ballvé

A piece titled “Deadwood as History” by Anne Hyde in Foreign Affairs on the historical content (or lack thereof) of HBO’s Deadwood begins: “All Westerns are stories of people attempting to impose order on a chaotic, lawless, and savage environment.” … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Boundaries, Frontiers, Henri Lefebvre, Historical-Geographies, Law, Political Ecology, Primitive Accumulation, Race & Ethnicity, Spatiality, Violence | Comments Off on Frontiers and Deadwood as Geography

Violence in Developing Countries

Posted on October 12, 2011 by Teo Ballvé

Cramer, Christopher. 2007. Violence in Developing Countries: War, Memory, Progress. Indiana University Press. Cramer’s book is a strident polemic and methodical critique against widely accepted explanations for contemporary violence. His critique is mainly geared at liberal interpretations of war in … Continue reading →

Posted in Frontiers, Historical Materialism, Insurgency/Counterinsurgency, Marxism, Political Economy, Violence | Comments Off on Violence in Developing Countries

Geographies of the Outlaw

Posted on October 3, 2011 by Teo Ballvé

The word “outlaw”—outside of the law—implicitly articulates the intimate relationship between geography and the law. From the perspective of state-makers and capitalists, the groups of outlaws I’m collectively labeling “Motley Crews” (as a shorthand) pose a grave ideological and spatial … Continue reading →

Posted in Bandits, Carl Schmitt, Drugs, Elites, Forests, Frontiers, Gender, Historical-Geographies, Illegality, Insurgency/Counterinsurgency, Karl Marx, Land, Law, Michel Foucault, Networks, Pirates, Post-Colonial, Power, Primitive Accumulation, Sovereignty, Spatiality, Territory, Terror, The Body, The Sea, The State, Violence | Comments Off on Geographies of the Outlaw