Violence, Organised Crime and the State: The Dynamics of Crime and Control in the Brazilian border regions

In recent decades, the borders of national states have become spaces for the manifestation of some paradoxical phenomena, in economic, political and social terms. The border - one of the mechanisms through which State sovereignty is exercised - has become a sensitive element of government policies, on the one hand, to favour the transit of goods and people and, on the other one, to control unwanted migration, smuggling, drug and arms trafficking, human trafficking and the activities of criminal organizations. This seminar intends to present the ongoing research agenda of the Nucleus for the Study of Violence (NEV/USP) on the subject, which analyses urban spaces, illegal markets, security policies and institutions of criminal justice as elements that produce perceptions about the territory, the social order and its institutional dimensions in the border regions of Brazil.

Event Speakers:

Marcos César Alvarez is a sociologist, professor at the Department of Sociology at the University of São Paulo and coordinator of the Center for the Study of Violence at USP. His research and teaching interests focus on the sociology of punishment and social control, as well as on the scope of social theory, research methodologies and social thought in Brazil. Gustavo Lucas Higa is a sociologist. He is currently a PhD candidate in Sociology and a researcher at the Center for the Study of Violence at USP. His research interests focus on the area of sociology of violence, punishment, prisons, moral panics and human rights.