Under review
Governing Through Exception:
States of Emergency and Violence Governance at the Urban Margins
American Sociological Review
Andrea Román Alfaro
This article delves into the intricate dynamics of urban violence governance within modern democratic states. Drawing on the literature on punishment and society, state capacity, states of emergency, and the politics of urban violence, the study examines how states unable to monopolize the legitimate use of violence try to find ways to govern violence and the responses of citizens targeted by state initiatives. Specifically, I analyze how academics, local leaders, state workers police officers, politicians, and citizens from neighbourhoods deemed “dangerous” interpret the Peruvian state’s use of states of emergency (SoE) decrees to fight crime in Callao, the second deadliest district in the country. The results show that contrary to the prevailing notion that punitive-like measures to address violence merely reflect authoritarian or populist tendencies, the study argues that SoEs serve as a pragmatic governance strategy that provides practical tools for state operation and shifts the blame from state to citizens by attributing violence to specific groups or areas. State actors justify and operationalize SoEs to mobilize resources, ease institutional processes, and feel they are doing their jobs. The study offers a nuanced understanding of violence governance in the Global South by arguing that weak states govern through exception.
Fractal Narratives:
Making and Silencing Violence at the Urban Margins
The British Journal of Criminology
Andrea Román Alfaro
This paper explores how actors across different societal scales interpret, experience, and respond to various forms of violence in marginalized urban neighbourhoods. Using ethnographic data and interviews with shantytown residents, academics, local leaders, and state actors in Peru, I found convergence in the narratives these actors use to make sense of violence. These narratives are fractal because they resemble each other at the individual, community, and state levels and are shaped by three similar cultural processes: gendering, racialization, and individualization. Drawing from cultural sociology and narrative analyses of violence and crime, this paper elucidates the connections between individual interpretations of violence and the social structures that shape individuals, communities, and state responses to violence.
In Preparation
Escaping Men, Doing Motherhood:
Surviving Violence at the Urban Margins
To be submitted to Qualitative Sociology
Andrea Román Alfaro
This paper investigates the survival strategies employed by women, particularly mothers, in Puerto Nuevo, a marginalized urban neighbourhood. The study reveals that a gendered division of labour, which restricts women to household and childcare duties, exacerbates their financial dependence on abusive partners. To achieve financial independence and escape abuse, these women engage in a variety of formal and informal economic activities, such as selling goods and running home-based businesses. Some women also form new relationships as a means of escaping abusive ones, highlighting the intricate relationship between economic survival and intimate partner violence.
Moreover, the research examines the measures women take to protect their children in violent environments. Strategies include keeping children at home, restricting their movements, and carefully selecting their friends and schools. Mothers in Puerto Nuevo also teach their children practical survival skills, such as walking close to walls to avoid crossfire. These protective measures demonstrate a deep understanding of local social dynamics and threats. Women utilize surveillance, psychological control, and confrontational tactics to shield their children from dangers like sexual abuse and police harassment. They may also resort to physical discipline and even legal action or violent retaliation against perpetrators to safeguard their families.
This study enhances our understanding of survival strategies by emphasizing the gendered dimensions and intersectionality of violence faced by women in Puerto Nuevo. It shows how women’s efforts to protect themselves and their children blur the lines between private and public violence, emphasizing their agency and resilience in the face of structural inequalities and institutional neglect. Contrary to prevailing notions of class-based differences in child-rearing practices, the research illustrates that mothers in Puerto Nuevo engage in a form of “concerted cultivation” adapted to their violent environment. These findings challenge stereotypes about marginalized women and underscore the necessity for policies that recognize and support their complex realities.
Moreover, the research examines the measures women take to protect their children in violent environments. Strategies include keeping children at home, restricting their movements, and carefully selecting their friends and schools. Mothers in Puerto Nuevo also teach their children practical survival skills, such as walking close to walls to avoid crossfire. These protective measures demonstrate a deep understanding of local social dynamics and threats. Women utilize surveillance, psychological control, and confrontational tactics to shield their children from dangers like sexual abuse and police harassment. They may also resort to physical discipline and even legal action or violent retaliation against perpetrators to safeguard their families.
This study enhances our understanding of survival strategies by emphasizing the gendered dimensions and intersectionality of violence faced by women in Puerto Nuevo. It shows how women’s efforts to protect themselves and their children blur the lines between private and public violence, emphasizing their agency and resilience in the face of structural inequalities and institutional neglect. Contrary to prevailing notions of class-based differences in child-rearing practices, the research illustrates that mothers in Puerto Nuevo engage in a form of “concerted cultivation” adapted to their violent environment. These findings challenge stereotypes about marginalized women and underscore the necessity for policies that recognize and support their complex realities.