Law in a lawless land : diary of a limpieza in Colombia / Michael Taussig.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Taussig, Michael T.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Violence--Colombia.

Violence.

Death squads.

Colombia.

Paramilitary forces--Colombia.

Paramilitary forces.

Death squads--Colombia.

Terrorism--Colombia.

Terrorism.

Physical Description:

xiii, 208 pages ; 20 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : New Press : Distributed by W.W. Norton, [2003]

Summary:

Colombia is a modern state falling to pieces, wracked by more than half a century of bloody civil war, political conflict, and violence associated with the drug trade, in spite of a multi-billion-dollar influx of American support that makes the country the third-largest recipient of U.S. foreign aid. Michael Taussig, acclaimed in the New York Times as "one of the brightest and most original thinkers in anthropology," has produced a remarkable chronicle of chaos and disorder as it afflicts one small town in Colombia's Cauca Valley. He records two weeks of the town's occupation by armed paramilitary forces conducting a limpieza, or "cleaning," threatening villagers and assassinating undesirables, whose bodies are left on display as a warning to others. Riveting in its personal and political details, the true subject of Law in a Lawless Land is violence itself and the lives it corrupts and destroys. Taking inspiration from sources as diverse as Jean Genet, Simone Weil, and Walter Benjamin, Taussig's moving and lyrical diary of the limpieza captures the unreality of Colombia's dire situation today along with the nuances and tragedies of everyday life consumed by war, the uncertainty and terror of existence in the face of fear and atrocity.

Contents:

The First Week 1

The Second Week 109

Postscript, New York 187

A View from the Outside 191.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [203]-205).

ISBN:

1565848632

OCLC:

52182621