project description

In terms of bodily harm vectors, no weapons are as potent in Latin America as small arms and light weapons. Moreover, their significance for the production of destruction but also the structuration of power relations, the militarization of Latin American societies, the political economy of the weapons complex and the cultural impact of weapons is quite clear.

The study of the circulation of rifles and automatic weapons, given their use by the army, police, criminals, private security firms and their robust presence in weapons markets in the region allows us to understand the dynamics of the regional circulation of weapons more broadly and the impact of violent interactions on social relations and structures.

Thus, the goal is this SNSF-funded scientific exchange is to study the circulation of small arms and light weapons, focusing on rifles and automatic weapons, in order to produce a regional cartography of the circulation of such weapons. The main research questions to be developed are: What are the enablers of and the limits to, or the conditions of possibility for, the circulations of these weapons in the region? How does the circulation of these technological artefacts affect and is affected by the development of violence as a core form of social interaction in Latin America?

These weapons present us with a form of access to social relations marked by violence and an opportunity to revisit the discussion on the embeddedness of violence in the region. Moreover, the study of the circulation of these weapons will allow us to analyse the weaponisation and militarization of politics in the region particularly prevalent today.

Research team:

• Dr Keith Krause, Co-Investigator

• Dr Monica Herz, Co-Investigator