Micropolitics in a Caracas Barrio: The Political Survival Strategies of Mothers in a Context of Armed Violence

Latin American Research Review

Manuel Llorens¹  Vernica Zubillaga² 

[1]Universidad Catlica Andrs Bello

[2]Universidad Simn Bolvar

DOI  :  10.25222/larr.196

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Latin American Studies Association

【 摘 要 】

Venezuela has one of the highest rates of homicide in the Americas. Those who are dying are mostly men, and most are shot. Based on ethnographic research in poor, urban neighborhoods in Caracas, where guns are abundant and the state is absent, this article focuses on the repertoire of responses of mothers of armed young men toward violence. How are mothers responding to meet the extreme challenges of safeguarding the survival of their families? In what ways do they participate in the containment but also in the dissemination of violence? We describe the safeguarding practices deployed by women, which we interpret as political survival strategies. Drawing on womens narratives, we have identified four strategies that contribute differently to the containment and reproduction of violence: submission and taking refuge, collaborating, resisting, and negotiating or forging of pacts.ResumenVenezuela tiene una de las tasas de homicidio ms altas de Amrica. La mayora de las vctimas son hombres que han recibido disparos. Basado en una investigacin etnogrfica en barrios pobres caraqueos, donde hay abundancia de armas y ausencia del Estado, este artculo se enfoca en el repertorio de respuestas a la violencia de madres de hombres jvenes armados. Cmo responden las madres a los desafos extremos de cuidar y procurar la sobrevivencia de sus familias? De qu maneras participan tanto para contener la violencia como para estimularla? Describimos las prcticas de salvaguarda utilizadas por las mujeres que interpretamos como estrategias polticas de sobrevivencia. Utilizando las narrativas de las mujeres hemos identificado cuatro estrategias que contribuyen de manera distinta a la contencin ya la reproduccin de la violencia: someterse y refugiarse, colaborar, resistir y negociar o forjar pactos.

【 授权许可】

CC BY