Suchergebnisse

Describes violent public protests against an increase in public transportation prices that occurred in Caracas, Venezuela, during Feb 1989 to explore fear of the Other. Over 80 people died in the spontaneous burning & looting that spread to well-to-do neighborhoods & turned latent fears of the upper classes into reality. It is contended that the encroachment of poverty-stricken people from the surrounding hills unraveled the social fabric of Venezuelan society. The rioting exposed a society that had too long accepted "subalterns who live their subordination with normality, dominated by a naturalizing vision of social hierarchies, & a relationship to the state expressed more in terms of clientelism or paternalism than in terms of citizenship, rights, & obligations." A discussion of the implications for life in Caracas notes an increased number of people carrying weapons; an erosion of trust in the legal/judicial system; & obsession with personal security. Concepts of Us & the Other are discussed, along with the power of narratives, & the constitution of social identity by memories, myths, & the symbolic order. J. Lindroth

An exploration of fear in Latin America notes that 140,000 people die violently each year, & most crimes take place in large cities where one out of every three citizens has been directly or indirectly victimized by violence. The essays in this volume offer academic studies as well as personal accounts of urban violence that include first-hand descriptions unavailable elsewhere. The importance of consumption as a symbol of "the good life" is discussed, noting that the discourse of class struggle has been replaced by the possession of status symbols, & a person can die over a pair of sneakers. It is maintained that Latin American cities are tainted by a "citizenship of fear" that has changed how people relate to each other & the state. Fears of physical violence are intensified by fears of income insecurity, health problems, hunger, the drug trade, & ethnic conflicts, which have destroyed the sense of belonging realized by former residents. Various ways in which "practices of fear" affect daily life in urban Latin America are examined. J. Lindroth

En el presente volumen varios autores enfocan la violencia urbana en America Latina, tomando como ejemplos los casos de Colombia, Venezuela, Mexico y Brasil. Ubican a la violencia dentro del contexto de las injusticias sociales existentes, de la politica neoliberal dominante en el continente y de las debilidades de los respectivos estados, por ejemplo en el area de la jurisdiccion. Con enfasis especial se tratan las consecuencias del un miedo omnipresente por la violencia extendida para el desarrollo de las sociedades latinoamericanas. (DÜI-Goe)