Category Archives: Frontiers

Bandits, Peasants, Politics

Posted on July 23, 2011 by Teo Ballvé

Sánchez, Gonzálo and Donny Meertens. 2006. Bandoleros, gamonales y campesinos: El caso de la Violencia en Colombia. Bogotá: Alfaguara. Latin America has been the epicenter of banditry studies. After Hobsbawm’s pioneering survey, Gonzálo Sánchez and Donny Meertens’ study of banditry … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Bandits, Boundaries, Dialectics, Frontiers, Illegality, Insurgency/Counterinsurgency, Land, Law, Nation/Nationalism, Terror, The State, Violence | Comments Off on Bandits, Peasants, Politics

Hobsbawm’s Bandits

Posted on July 23, 2011 by Teo Ballvé

Hobsbawm, Eric J. 2000. Bandits. New York: The New Press. Hobsbawm develops his essay on “social banditry” from Primitive Rebels into a book-length exploration in this book, and in this reworked edition responds to some of the critics of the original … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Bandits, Boundaries, Everyday Life, Forests, Frontiers, Historical-Geographies, Illegality, Insurgency/Counterinsurgency, Land, Law, Territory, Terror, The State, Violence | 2 Comments

Mercenaries, Pirates & Sovereigns

Posted on July 20, 2011 by Teo Ballvé

Thomson, Janice E. 1994. Mercenaries, Pirates, and Sovereigns. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. The main task of Janice Thomson’s Mercenaries, Pirates, and Sovereigns is to reveal how non-state violence became monopolized in its legitimate form by the state. How did … Continue reading →

Posted in Boundaries, Frontiers, Historical-Geographies, Illegality, Insurgency/Counterinsurgency, Land, Law, Pirates, Post-Colonial, Power, Sovereignty, Spatiality, Territory, Terror, The Sea, The State, Violence | 1 Comment

Villains of All Nations

Posted on July 20, 2011 by Teo Ballvé

Rediker, Marcus. 2004. Villains of All Nations: Atlantic Pirates in the Golden Age. Boston: Beacon Press. The dialectics of violence on the eighteenth century Atlantic were spurred by three sources of terror: pirates, violent state repression against piracy, and the … Continue reading →

Posted in Boundaries, Frontiers, Gender, Historical-Geographies, Illegality, Insurgency/Counterinsurgency, Law, Pirates, Political Economy, Power, Race & Ethnicity, Spatiality, Territory, Terror, The Sea, The State, Violence | 2 Comments

The Enemy of All

Posted on July 20, 2011 by Teo Ballvé

Heller-Rozen, Daniel. 2009. The Enemy of All: Piracy and the Law of Nations. Boston: Zone Books. Daniel Heller-Rozen’s The Enemy of All departs from a deceptively simple question: How is it that the pirate came to be the original enemy … Continue reading →

Posted in Boundaries, Frontiers, Gender, Historical-Geographies, Illegality, Insurgency/Counterinsurgency, Land, Law, Pirates, Power, Sovereignty, Spatiality, Territory, Terror, The Sea, The State | 4 Comments

The Many-Headed Hydra

Posted on July 15, 2011 by Teo Ballvé

Linebaugh, Peter and Marcus Rediker. 2000. The Many-Headed Hydra: Sailors, Slaves, Commoners, and the Hidden History of the Revolutionary Atlantic. Boston: Beacon Press. Peter Linebaugh and Marcus Rediker’s groundbreaking book uncovers the history of the many Motley Crews—the many-headed hydras—across … Continue reading →

Posted in Bandits, Everyday Life, Frontiers, Historical-Geographies, Illegality, Insurgency/Counterinsurgency, Law, Nation/Nationalism, Networks, Pirates, Race & Ethnicity, Territory, Terror, The Sea, The State, Violence | 1 Comment

Understories in Northern New Mexico

Posted on July 12, 2011 by Teo Ballvé

Kosek, Jake. 2006. Understories: The Political Life of Forests in Northern New Mexico. Durham: Duke University Press. Jake Kosek’s Understories: The Political Life of Forests in Northern New Mexico is a solid model for the presentation of research. He brilliantly … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Everyday Life, Forests, Frontiers, Governmentality, Historical-Geographies, Land, Law, Michel Foucault, Nation/Nationalism, Place, Political Ecology, Power, Race & Ethnicity, Science & Tech., Spatiality, Territory, The Body, The State, Violence | 1 Comment

Culture of Terror, Space of Death

Posted on July 5, 2011 by Teo Ballvé

Taussig, Michael. 1984. “Culture of Terror, Space of Death. Roger Casement’s Putumayo Report and the Explanation of Torture.” Comparative Studies in Society and History 26(3): 467-497. In this essay, Michael Taussig wants to explore “the mediation of the culture of … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Boundaries, Dialectics, Forests, Frontiers, Historical-Geographies, Land, Political Ecology, Political Economy, Post-Colonial, Power, Race & Ethnicity, Spatiality, Spectacle, Terror, Violence | Comments Off on Culture of Terror, Space of Death

Taking the Jungle Out of the Forest

Posted on July 5, 2011 by Teo Ballvé

Peluso, Nancy and Peter Vandergeest. 2011. “Taking the Jungle out of the Forest: Counter-Insurgency and the Making of National Natures.” In Global Political Ecology edited by Richard Peet, Paul Robbins, and Michael Watts. New York: Routledge.  What are the interconnected … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Boundaries, Forests, Frontiers, Illegality, Insurgency/Counterinsurgency, Land, Law, Maps, Nation/Nationalism, Political Ecology, Post-Colonial, Power, Race & Ethnicity, Scale, Science & Tech., Sovereignty, Spatiality, Territory, The State, Violence | Comments Off on Taking the Jungle Out of the Forest

Intimate Enemies in Chiapas

Posted on July 5, 2011 by Teo Ballvé

Bobrow-Strain, Aaron. 2007. Intimate Enemies: Landowners, Power, and Violence in Chiapas. Durham: Duke University Press. This book has a perfect hook: What about the vilified landowners on the receiving end of the January 1, 1994, uprising by the Zapatista rebels … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Antonio Gramsci, Boundaries, Frontiers, Gender, Hegemony, Henri Lefebvre, Historical-Geographies, Insurgency/Counterinsurgency, Land, Marxism, Nation/Nationalism, Political Ecology, Political Economy, Power, Race & Ethnicity, Scale, Spatiality, Territory, The State, Violence | 2 Comments