Illicit economies, violence(s) and state formation in Latin America

The Centre for the Study of Illicit Economies, Violence and Development (CIVAD) at SOAS, and the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), are organising a series of six seminars which will bring together academics, students, policy makers and practitioners with an interest and engagement in questions of illicit economies, violence and development.

In this seminar, chaired by Jeff Garmany, keynote speaker Jenny Pearce will discuss illicit economies, violence(s) and their influence on state formation in Latin America.

Jenny Pearce is Research Professor in the Latin American and Caribbean Centre at the LSE. She is a political scientist with area expertise in Latin America. She works with anthropological and participatory research methodologies on social change, violence, security, power and participation in the region. She considers herself a peace scholar, committed to theoretical development of the field of peace, power and violence as well as empirical study. She has conducted fieldwork since the 1980s in Colombia, Central America, Mexico, Chile, Brazil and Venezuela, and published widely. Her latest book is: ‘Politics without Violence? Towards a Post Weberian Enlightenment’ (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2020).

Dr Jeff Garmany is Senior Lecturer of Latin American Studies in the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Melbourne. . Before joining the University of Melbourne, he held an appointment at King’s College London in the Department of Geography and the King’s Brazil Institute. His research is based in the fields of Urban Studies, Political Geography, Critical Development, and Latin American/Brazilian Studies. His publications include Understanding Contemporary Brazil, co-authored with Anthony Pereira (Routledge, 2019), along with numerous journal articles and book chapters.