Cecilia Menjívar

This text gives a detailed account of the inner workings of the networks by which immigrants leave their homes in Central America to start new lives in the Mission District of of San Francisco.

Salvadoran Immigrant Networks in America

Fragmented Ties

Drawing on revealing, in-depth interviews, Cecilia Menjívar investigates the role that violence plays in the lives of Ladina women in eastern Guatemala, a little-visited and little-studied region. While much has been written on the subject of political violence in Guatemala, Menjívar turns to a different form of suffering—the violence embedded in institutions and in everyday life so familiar and routine that it is often not recognized as such. Rather than painting Guatemala (or even Latin America) as having a cultural propensity for normalizing and accepting violence, Menjívar aims to develop an approach to examining structures of violence—profound inequality, exploitation and poverty, and gender ideologies that position women in vulnerable situations— grounded in women’s experiences. In this way, her study provides a glimpse into the root causes of the increasing wave of feminicide in Guatemala, as well as in other Latin American countries, and offers observations relevant for understanding violence against women around the world today.

Ladina Women's Lives in Guatemala

Enduring Violence

Daniel Kanstroom

The topic of "illegal" immigration has been a major aspect of public discourse in the United States and many other immigrant-receiving countries. From the beginning of its modern invocation in the early twentieth century, the often ill-defined epithet of human "illegality" has figured prominently in the media; in vigorous public debates at the national, state, and local levels; and in presidential campaigns. In this collection of essays, contributors from a variety of disciplines - anthropology, law, political science, religious studies, and sociology - examine how immigration law shapes immigrant illegality, how the concept of immigrant illegality is deployed and lived, and how its power is wielded and resisted. The authors conclude that the current concept of immigrant illegality is in need of sustained critique, as careful analysis will aid policy discussions and lead to more just solutions.

Critiques, Experiences, and Responses

Constructing Immigrant 'Illegality'

David Carey Jr

Gema Kloppe-Santamaría 

Violencia y crimen en América Latina ofrece un análisis original e interdisciplinario sobre las razones históricas, culturales y políticas detrás de la actual crisis de inseguridad que afecta a la región. A partir del análisis de las representaciones y los discursos sobre la violencia, este libro demuestra que ni las causas puramente económicas ni aquellas centradas en las fallas institucionales del Estado logran explicar la continuidad de la violencia y el crimen durante diferentes periodos históricos en América Latina. A través de capítulos temáticos que cubren países tan diversos como Argentina, México, Brasil, Chile y Guatemala, a lo largo de los siglos XX y XXI, los autores argumentan que los debates públicos, las representaciones sociales y las luchas de poder son variantes centrales para entender por qué el Estado y los ciudadanos han aceptado y reproducido prácticas ilegales y violentas en el ámbito institucional, social y de la vida cotidiana.

Representaciones, poder y política

Violencia y crimen en América Latina

Néstor P. Rodríguez

Néstor Rodríguez

Teresa Cecilia Menjívar

"I have given chapters of this book to our clients—survivors of state-supported terror in Latin America—and watched as they nodded their heads in agreement and then asked variations of the question: 'how can academics understand so well what was going on in our countries?' This book uses the lens of rigorous scholarship to bring out of the shadows the particularities and common patterns that enabled state repression to operate so effectively in the United States' sphere of influence for more than two decades." —Sandra Coliver, Executive Director, Center for Justice & Accountability, San Francisco "There are currently no volumes that do what When States Kill accomplishes. This extraordinarily important volume, edited by two superb scholars, will make an outstanding contribution to many fields." —Martha K. Huggins, Charles A. and Leo M. Favrot Professor of Human Relations, Department of Sociology, Tulane University, and coauthor of Violence Workers: Torturers and Murderers Reconstruct Brazilian Atrocities "This extraordinary collection of essays locates Latin American state terror within the context of the distinct and influential role of U.S. foreign and military policy in the region. This is a rare work, a 'must read' for academics from a range of disciplines as well as human rights and refugee advocates and lawyers." —Carolyn Patty Blum, Clinical Professor of Law Emeritus, Boalt Hall Law School, University of California at Berkeley "This is an indispensable collection. Every chapter is a jewel! Given the importance of the topic, it should become a classic." —Hernn Vera, Professor of Sociology, University of Florida Since the early twentieth century, technological transfers from the United States to Latin American countries have involved technologies of violence for social control. As the chapters in this book illustrate, these technological transfers have taken various forms, including the training of Latin American military personnel in surveillance and torture and the provision of political and logistic support for campaigns of state terror. The human cost for Latin America has been enormous—thousands of Latin Americans have been murdered, disappeared, or tortured, and whole communities have been terrorized into silence. Organized by region, the essays in this book address the topic of state-sponsored terrorism in a variety of ways. Most take the perspective that state-directed political violence is a modern development of a regional political structure in which U.S. political interests weigh heavily. Others acknowledge that Latin American states enthusiastically received U.S. support for their campaigns of terror. A few see local culture and history as key factors in the implementation of state campaigns of political violence. Together, all the essays exemplify how technologies of terror have been transferred among various Latin American countries, with particular attention to the role that the United States, as a "strong" state, has played in such transfers.

Latin America, the U.S., and Technologies of Terror

When States Kill

Since the early twentieth century, technological transfers from the United States to Latin American countries have involved technologies of violence for social control. As the chapters in this book illustrate, these technological transfers have taken various forms, including the training of Latin American military personnel in surveillance and torture and the provision of political and logistic support for campaigns of state terror. The human cost for Latin America has been enormous—thousands of Latin Americans have been murdered, disappeared, or tortured, and whole communities have been terrorized into silence. Organized by region, the essays in this book address the topic of state-sponsored terrorism in a variety of ways. Most take the perspective that state-directed political violence is a modern development of a regional political structure in which U.S. political interests weigh heavily. Others acknowledge that Latin American states enthusiastically received U.S. support for their campaigns of terror. A few see local culture and history as key factors in the implementation of state campaigns of political violence. Together, all the essays exemplify how technologies of terror have been transferred among various Latin American countries, with particular attention to the role that the United States, as a "strong" state, has played in such transfers.

Cecilia Menjívar

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