Synopses & Reviews
The changes that are engulfing the world today--the fall of nation-states and dictatorships, migrations and border crossings, revolution, democratization, and the international spread of capital--call for new approaches to the subject of crime. Anthropologists engage a variety of methods to answer that call in
Crimes Power. Their view of crime extends into the intimacies of everyday life as war transforms personal identities, the violence of a serial killer inhabits paintings, and the smell of imprisonment reveals societys potentials. Moving beyond the fixities of law, this book explores the nature of crime as an expression of power across the spectrum of human differences.
Review
"The essays that make up Crime's Power draw upon the best tools of anthropology to attack, undermine, and encircle the issue of "crime." They provide fresh insights into the social category "crime" and a fascinating window into major issues of power, law, development, neoliberalism, and globalization generally. Fun to read and at the same time theoretically rich..."--Bryant Garth, Director, American Bar Foundation
"What does it mean to take an anthropological perspective on crime? This important volume revisits the critically important insight that crime is a socially constructed category and shows its implications for governance and power around the world. Challenging the current preoccupation with crime control, this radical perspective examines how actions come to be defined as crimes and explores whose interests are served by these definitions in case studies from Latin America, Africa, Europe, Asia, and the U.S."--Sally Engle Merry, professor of Anthropology at Wellesley College
Synopsis
This is the first anthropological book focusing on crime's construction andrelations of power.
About the Author
Philip C. Parnell is Associate Professor of Criminal Justice, Indiana University, Bloomington with appointments in Anthropology, Caribbean and Latin American Studies, and the Center on Southeast Asia.
Stephanie C. Kane is Associate Professor of Criminal Justice, Indiana University, Bloomington with appointments in Anthropology, Folklore, and Gender Studies.
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations x Introduction: Crime's Power-- Philip C. Parnell x Traversing the Q'eqchi' Imaginary: The Conjecture of Crime in Livingston, Guatemala-- Hilary E. Kahn x Crime as a Category, Domestic and Globalized-- Laura Nader x The Anthropologist Accused-- June Starr x Wild Power in Post-Military Brazil-- Daniel T. Linger x Recognition of State Authority as a Cost of Involvement in Moroccan Border Crime-- David A. McMurray x Representations of Crime: On Showing Paintings by a Serial Killer-- Anne Brydon and Pauline Greenhill x Criminal Instabilities: Narrative Interruptions and the Politics of Criminality-- JoAnn Martin x Criminalizing Colonialism: Democracy Meets Law in Manila-- Philip C. Parnell x Mafia without Malfeasance-- Clans without Crime: The Criminality Conundrum in Post-Communist Europe-- Janine R. Wedel x Hear No Evil-- Read No Evil-- Write No Evil: Inscriptions of French World War II Collaborationism-- Vera Mark x Solidarity and Objectivity: Re-reading Durkheim-- Carol J. Greenhouse x Epilogue-- Stephanie C. Kane x Contributors x Index