Category Archives: Terror

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?

Can Colombia’s Peace Talks Succeed?

Posted on October 17, 2012 by Teo Ballvé

Colombia’s fourth and hopefully definitive try at peace talks with the country’s largest rebel group begin today in Oslo, Norway. The previous three tries between the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC)—once in the 1980s and twice … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Development, Drugs, Illegality, Insurgency/Counterinsurgency, Land, Peace, Security, Terror, The State, Violence | Comments Off on Can Colombia’s Peace Talks Succeed?

Gregory: The Everywhere War

Posted on January 24, 2012 by Teo Ballvé

A lecture given by Derek Gregory, a geographer at the University of British Columbia, is now online. Gregory discusses “The Everywhere War.” We now live in a world where death can be delivered across vast distances. Political geographer Derek Gregory examines three … Continue reading →

Posted in Boundaries, Insurgency/Counterinsurgency, Peace, Sovereignty, Territory, Terror, The State, Violence | 2 Comments

Afflicted Powers

Posted on January 19, 2012 by Teo Ballvé

Retort. 2005. Afflicted Powers: Capital and Spectacle in an Age of War. New Edition. London: Verso. Despite being a relatively short book, Afflicted Powers is a difficult one to summarize. Retort* sets for itself the immodest task of identifying the … Continue reading →

Posted in #Occupy, Everyday Life, Guy Debord, Insurgency/Counterinsurgency, Peace, Power, Primitive Accumulation, Spectacle, Terror, The State, Violence | Comments Off on Afflicted Powers

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

Coffee and Power

Posted on August 13, 2011 by Teo Ballvé

Paige, Jeffery M. 1997. Coffee and Power: Revolution and the Rise of Democracy in Central America. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Jeffrey Paige’s book Coffee and Power is an exemplary piece of comparative research. In addressing three Central American countries tortured … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Elites, Historical-Geographies, Insurgency/Counterinsurgency, Land, Political Economy, Post-Colonial, Power, Terror, The State, Violence | Comments Off on Coffee and Power

Insurgent Collective Action

Posted on August 1, 2011 by Teo Ballvé

Wood, Elisabeth J. 2003. Insurgent Collective Action and Civil War in El Salvador. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Elisabeth Jean Wood’s book explores why some Salvadoran peasants decided to collectively thrust themselves toward that country’s insurgency in the 1970s-1990s. Through a … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Boundaries, Historical-Geographies, Illegality, Insurgency/Counterinsurgency, Land, Maps, Nation/Nationalism, Peace, Place, Political Ecology, Power, Sovereignty, Spatiality, Terror, The State, Violence | Comments Off on Insurgent Collective Action

Fighting for the Rain Forest

Posted on August 1, 2011 by Teo Ballvé

Richards, Paul. 1996. Fighting for the Rainforest: War, Youth and Resources in Sierra Leone. Oxford: James Currey. Paul Richards main aim in Fighting for the Rain Forest is to argue against what he calls the “New Barbarism” thesis, which presents … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Bandits, Boundaries, Drugs, Everyday Life, Forests, Frontiers, Historical-Geographies, Illegality, Insurgency/Counterinsurgency, Land, Law, Nation/Nationalism, Peace, Place, Political Ecology, Political Economy, Post-Colonial, Power, Primitive Accumulation, Scale, Sovereignty, Spatiality, Territory, Terror, The Body, The State, Violence | 1 Comment

Inside Rebellion

Posted on August 1, 2011 by Teo Ballvé

Weinstein, Jeremy M. 2007. Inside Rebellion: The Politics of Insurgent Violence. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Jeremy Weinstein’s Inside Rebellion seeks to reveal why some insurgencies are far more violent against civilian populations than others. In other words, why are some … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Bandits, Boundaries, Drugs, Forests, Frontiers, Illegality, Insurgency/Counterinsurgency, Land, Nation/Nationalism, Peace, Sovereignty, Terror, The State, Violence | Comments Off on Inside Rebellion

Shattering Silence

Posted on August 1, 2011 by Teo Ballvé

Aretxaga, Begoña. 1997. Shattering Silence: Women, Nationalism, and Political Subjectivity in Northern Ireland. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Begoña Aretxaga explores the problems and promise of feminist change in Northern Ireland with the start of the “Troubles” in the wake … Continue reading →

Posted in Boundaries, City, Everyday Life, Gender, Hegemony, Insurgency/Counterinsurgency, Law, Nation/Nationalism, Place, Post-Colonial, Power, Race & Ethnicity, Spatiality, Terror, The Body, The State, Violence | 1 Comment