Category Archives: The State

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

Formations of Violence

Posted on August 1, 2011 by Teo Ballvé

Feldman, Allen. 1991. Formations of Violence: The Narrative of the Body and Political Terror in Northern Ireland. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Formations of Violence came highly recommended, and I was not disappointed. The overly dense theoretical introduction and Allen … Continue reading →

Posted in Boundaries, City, Everyday Life, Frontiers, Illegality, Insurgency/Counterinsurgency, Law, Michel Foucault, Nation/Nationalism, Peace, Place, Post-Colonial, Power, Race & Ethnicity, Scale, Sovereignty, Spatiality, Territory, Terror, The Body, The State, Violence | 2 Comments

Modern Insurgencies and Counter-Insurgencies

Posted on August 1, 2011 by Teo Ballvé

Beckett, Ian FW. 2001. Modern Insurgencies and Counter-Insurgencies: Guerrillas and their Opponents Since 1750. New York: Routledge. Ian Beckett’s Modern Insurgencies and Counter-Insurgencies provides a sweeping yet surprisingly detailed, if rather conventional, historical survey of insurgency and counter-insurgency. Despite the … Continue reading →

Posted in Bandits, Historical-Geographies, Illegality, Insurgency/Counterinsurgency, Law, Sovereignty, Terror, The State, Violence | Comments Off on Modern Insurgencies and Counter-Insurgencies

A Century of Revolution

Posted on August 1, 2011 by Teo Ballvé

Grandin, Greg and Gilbert M. Joseph, Eds. 2010. A Century of Revolution: Insurgent and Counterinsurgent Violence During Latin America’s Long Cold War. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. [Selections] I wish I’d had more time to devote to A Century of … Continue reading →

Posted in Historical Materialism, Illegality, Insurgency/Counterinsurgency, Land, Law, Nation/Nationalism, Peace, Post-Colonial, Power, Scale, Sovereignty, Terror, The State, Violence | 1 Comment

On the Trail of Latin American Bandits

Posted on July 23, 2011 by Teo Ballvé

Joseph, Gilbert M. 1990. “On the Trail of Latin American Bandits: A Reexamination of Peasant Resistance,” Latin American Research Review 25(3): 7-53; & Various Authors. 1991. “Debate on Banditry in Latin America,” Latin American Research Review 26(1): 145-174. Gil Joseph … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Bandits, Boundaries, Dialectics, Hegemony, Historical Materialism, Historical-Geographies, Illegality, Insurgency/Counterinsurgency, Land, Law, Marxism, Nation/Nationalism, Political Ecology, Political Economy, Terror, The State, Violence | Comments Off on On the Trail of Latin American Bandits

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

Primitive Rebels

Posted on July 20, 2011 by Teo Ballvé

Hobsbawm, Eric. 1959. Primitive Rebels: Studies in Archaic forms of Social Movements in the 19th and 20th Century. New York: Norton In Eric Hobsbawm’s famous book, primitive rebels are those engaged in “pre-political” or “blind and groping” forms of social … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Bandits, Historical-Geographies, Illegality, Insurgency/Counterinsurgency, Land, Law, Power, Primitive Accumulation, Spatiality, Terror, The State, Violence | 1 Comment

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