DRCLAS Andes Initiative Event
Date and Time
“Longing for the State: Moral Economy, Legal Subjects and the War on Drugs”
Speaker: Diana Bocarejo, Universidad del Rosario, Bogotá
Comments by Jean Comaroff and John Comaroff, African and African American Studies and Anthropology, Harvard University.
The topic of this talk hinges upon a paradox that is pervasive in Latin America and many other countries in the world: despite the withdrawal of the state and the difficult experiences of marginalization and violence of many of its citizens, many of them still retain a strong desire or 'longing' for the state. Such longing is drawn upon imaginations about highly personified political figures and about what a moral economy could be like in the 21st century. This talk explores Familias Guardabosques (Warden families or Ranger Families), a progressive and alternative program for dismantling coca growing in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, along with the complex histories of violence and paramilitary control that have taken place there. It is these complex and intricate histories that give shape to mechanisms and meanings of state formation and longing for the state.
Diana Bocarejo holds a PhD in Anthropology from the University of Chicago. She is currently Professor of Anthropology at the School of Human Sciences at Universidad del Rosario in Bogotá, Colombia. Her main areas of interest are political and legal anthropology, and social spatial studies. More specifically, Diana has worked on the manner in which governance in Colombia shapes and is also strongly framed by social spatial configurations that in turn define disparities on the access to natural and state resources, and highly segregated forms of thinking and managing ethnicity and race. Her first project looked at multicultural policies directed at indigenous peoples in Colombia, and the conflicts that arise from the strong spatialization of ethnicity and minority rights. More recently, Diana has been working on the articulation of drug policy, peace building strategies and environmental governance in Colombia. In particular, she studies the political rationalities and the everyday techniques that have sought to create knowledge about and management of the environment and of social problems such as violence and poverty in the neighboring areas of National Parks.
This event is sponsored by the Latin American Working Group (LAWG) and Harvard Anthropology Department.