Illegalism

The research which this dissertation is based upon sought to analyze the sexual and affective relationships created in female penitentiaries in the cities of São Paulo and Barcelona. The dissertation looks at prisons as a space which produces relationships, focusing in particular on how the linkages created in the prison system modify the life trajectories of those who create or reinforce  family networks through the exchange of “help” (Piscitelli, 2008) and “substances” (Carsten, 2004) within the multiple spaces of the prison system (both within and outside of the actual walls of the prison itself). My fieldwork resulted in an ethnography which became multi-sited in its development. Seeking to follow the affective networks created by the women I engaged with during my research, my ethnographic field expanded from one female penitentiary in São Paulo to other prison units in the same city and, finally, to Barcelona. This widening was due to the significant presence of Spanish women detained within the São Paulo system. It ended up creating new research problems linked to migrational and transnational movement studies. The resultant widening of my analytical spectrum, however, also allowed me to carry out significant ethnographic research among Brazilian women in Catalunian prisons.
My analysis of this ethnographic material reveals that, for my research interlocutors, affective networks produce possible escapes or axes of agency within the power relations of the prison system – a system which aggregates layers of state control over boarders and migratory flows, as well other forms of relationship management, such as those exercised by the First Capital Command (Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC)) prisoner collective. The affective networks woven between and during the “sentances and marriages” lived while in prison are thus an extremely relevant part of the productive political processes of these institutions.

Within the field of criminology, the ecological perspective argues for an implicit notion of spatiality, one which reduces the physical environment to nothing more than a basic geographical site, thereby excluding the power relationships, as well as the social and cultural dynamics, or values- and meaning-based dynamics, conveyed therein. As such, this study investigates the importance of geographical space in criminology. By employing the concept of liminality, defined as a symbolic space-time, this thesis also specifically studies the role space plays in the (re)production of both illegalisms and playful deviance, their respective regulation, as well as in the production of knowledge. In order to shed light on the liminality concept, this thesis draws on a five-and-a-half-month-long ethnography, carried out in two Costa Rican beach towns. It also illustrates how the tourism industry’s neoliberal practices produce a liminal space that caters to quests for the exoticism, and especially the hedonism and authenticity, sought by tourists seeking to escape the confines of their everyday lives. While a segment of the scientific literature views liminality as a space where everyday norms are suspended, this thesis instead suggests that tourists adhere to norms already present in such spaces, ones specifically based on an aggressive form of hedonism, which in turn result in “out of the ordinary” alcohol and drug consumption, as well as sexuality, on the part of tourists. In adopting an interdisciplinary approach, this study initially employs cultural geography’s notion of space. This conception of space, which employs an idealist-materialist dialectic, also allows for the adoption of an analytical perspective based on the concept of uneven development. It also makes it possible to understand not only why certain places, regions, and countries are recognized as being so-called liminal spaces, but also how the practices of a capitalist economy push them to rely on an image of liminality in order to survive and operate within the market economy. In additionally taking inspiration from social anthropology, this thesis views the touristic experience as a rite of passage, while also proposing that tourists are subjected to a symbolic device, which leads them to perform a site-specific tourist identity. This performance, given concrete form by the consumption of transgressions, results in the (re)production of the liminal space. The thesis also shows that this symbolic device is a regulating mechanism in regard to conducts, but additionally to bodies. Lastly, the thesis illustrates the ways in which the research field is also a liminality for researchers, one which affects them, as well as the knowledge produced therein.

Informal and illegal housing like squats persist in cities while the property right is a fundamental right in France. For a long time law sociologists have been very interested in the management and the regulation of illegalisms by the state agents. They show that public laws are differently applied and implemented, depending on the population it targets. Nevertheless, in this paper, we address the Paris municipality’s ability to govern illegalisms – and not only to arrange with it –, to implement public policies and develop a strategy of action and planning. Elected representatives can be mediators between squatters, the State and owners in order to manage conflicts. Above all, governing the city means orienting behaviors, imposing choices, distributing resources and controlling the occupations by building policy instruments and urban planning strategies. Finally, local representatives select and categorize the targets – recipients and victims.

Edited version of published paper presented at 'Is Black and Red Dead?' Conference, Centre for the Study of Social and Global and Justice (CSSGJ) University of Nottingham, 7-8 September, 2009

https://socialhistoryportal.org/news/articles/110943

Las esquinas pobladas por jóvenes de barrios atravesados por la pobreza urbana y la desigualdad social suelen despertar sospechas y quedar asociadas al mundo de los ilegalismos. Ahora bien, el presente trabajo problematiza esta imagen a través resultados de investigación. A lo largo de un año de trabajo en terreno nos encontramos con jóvenes para quienes una parte importante de su socialización ocurre en la esquina. Estos jóvenes constituyen entre la cuarta o quinta generación de familias que han transcurrido sus vidas en un barrio de la región metropolitana de Buenos Aires (RMBA). Para estos, la esquina asume gran importancia debido a que, a excepción de la escuela, no hay otras instituciones públicas donde pasar el tiempo. Si bien los ilegalismos convergen allí, la esquina se vuelve aquel lugar donde encontrar lugar, donde estar y donde hacer cuando no hay nada para hacer.

Resumo : Nesse artigo busca-se problematizar uma visão que reduz o proibicionismo à uma política repressiva visando a interdição absoluta das drogas. Propomos, por meio de uma abordagem “positiva”, restituir as diversas funções de controle, de regulação e de repressão que constituem o sistema proibicionista de drogas nos focalizando no caso do Brasil no período de 1930 a 1970. Salientamos, particularmente, a atividade de fiscalização de entorpecentes que nós descrevemos a partir de suas três dimensões principais: controle estatístico, tributação e regulamentação profissional e regulação dos costumes. Examinamos, em fim, como a formalização de um mercado legítimo de drogas vem acompanhado do desenvolvimento de um conjunto de ilegalismos às margens do lícito e do ilícito. 

Résumé : Cet article propose de complexifier une analyse qui tend à réduire le prohibitionnisme à une politique répressive visant à l’interdiction absolue des drogues. Nous nous efforçons, à travers une perspective plus « positive », de rendre compte des diverses fonctions de contrôle, de régulation et de répression qui constituent le système prohibitionniste des drogues, en nous focalisant sur le cas du Brésil entre 1930 et 1970. Nous nous concentrons tout particulièrement sur l’activité de « fiscalização » des stupéfiants, dont nous décrivons les trois dimensions principales : contrôle statistique, prélèvement et réglementation des professions, et régulation des mœurs. Nous examinons enfin comment la formalisation d’un marché légitime des drogues est allé de pair avec le développement de tout un ensemble d’illégalismes, aux marges du licite et de l’illicite.

Abstract: In this article, we want to quality the common view that tends to reduce prohibition to repressive policies aiming at a total interdiction of drugs. We promote a more “positive” analytical framework to describe the different functions of drugs control, regulation and repression that define the drug prohibition regime, focusing our analysis on the case of Brazil between 1930 and 1970. We insist specifically on the activities of drugs “fiscalização”, of which we detail the three main components: statistical control, taxation and regulation of professions, reformation of manners. Eventually we study how the formalization of a legitimate drugs market has been associated with the appearance of various forms of illegalisms, at the margins between licit and illicit practices.

Michel Foucault parle de la Révolution française dans ses premiers cours des années 1970 au Collège de France. Notre étude en ce domaine portent sur deux cours, La société punitive (1972-1973) et Il faut défendre la société (1976).  Considérant le caractère fonctionnel des illégalismes, en particulier populaire, il décrit des rapports de force d’ordre dynastique à partir d’un savoir discursif sur les luttes. Il met l’accent sur les mécanismes révolutionnaires de l’inversion qui concernent tout autant les stratégies punitives (le sans-culottisme, les massacres de septembre) et l’émergence conjointe d’une figure de l’ennemi social, que l’avènement de la nouvelle figure de la nation (Sieyès).

Review essay of Negativity and Revolution: Adorno and Political Activism eds. Holloway, J. Matamoros, F. & Tischler, S. (2009) (London: Pluto Press) in Logos: A Journal of Modern Society and Culture Vol. 8, Issue 2 http://logosjournal.com/2011/garland/