“But sirs, people do not vanish, ¿Would it be possible that the Earth had swallowed him?, or as the rumors about secret prisons go…
Prison and Coup d’État
About ten years ago I was strolling along Avenida Paulista, Brazil’s most well-known commercial thoroughfare when a person handed me a pamphlet. Without breaking stride, I started to read: “come learn more about this new type of investment.” It was an invitation…
Monitored Confinement and Rule by Philanthropy in Rio de Janeiro and Baltimore
A 2009 classified cable from the US Consulate in Rio de Janeiro, later declassified by the whistleblowing platform WikiLeaks, outlined the…
From Structural to Stochastic Violence
Last spring, Karina Biondi, 2017 APLA Book Prize winner, approached us to develop a Speaking Justice to Power series on incarceration and confinement in the Americas, their role in authoritarian political movements…
APLA at AAA 2018: No Small Change
Co-Sponsored by the Society for Economic Anthropology and APLA
Since 2011, anthropologists have been researching cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and the blockchain technologies on which they are based. As…
APLA at AAA 2018: Magical Thinking and Tinkering
In a global context of forced mobility, growing inequality, and economic restructuring and austerity, actors in the social domain face an expanding sphere of intervention and, often, shrinking material…
APLA at AAA 2018: The Uses of Trust
The English legal historian Frederic Maitland argued (around 1900) that the trust was one of the great innovations of his country’s legal development: a flexible legal mechanism that protected property, fostered common purposes…
Book and Paper Prize Winners!
The Association for Political and Legal Anthropology is pleased to announce the winners of this year’s Book Prize and Graduate Student Paper Prize competitions. Join us at the AAAs to celebrate the authors and hear…
Call for PoLAR Digital Editorial Fellows
In 2012, PoLAR: Political and Legal Anthropology Review launched the Digital Editorial Fellows (def) Program for graduate students interested in enhancing their knowledge and experience in scholarly electronic communication and publishing…
APLA at AAA 2018: Anthropology Confronts the Trolls
APLA and PoLAR are pleased to announce our special event at the 117th annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association! Technology and New Media have become central players in the politics of…
APLA at AAA 2018: Early Career Mentoring Workshops
At the 2018 AAA meetings, APLA will be offering two Early Career Mentoring events; these events are free and open to all conference attendees, but please RSVP by November 9. Publishing Your First Book…
Selfhood in flames? Imprisonment and Cauterization in Arizona’s Prison Wildfire Program
By Lindsey Raisa Feldman, PhD The United States, self-mythologized for centuries as a paragon of freedom and liberty, now serves as an ironic…
“Assisted Freedom”: Carceral Transmutation and Juvenile Offenders in Brazil
By Sara R. Munhoz In 2012, during my fieldwork in a semi-open socio-educational center on the outskirts of the city of São Paulo, I participated in a meeting with an adolescent offender…
Inside Out: Confinement, Revolt and Repression in Nicaragua
By Julienne Weegels Since 18 April 2018, the force deployed by the Sandinista state against a surge of popular protest has left over 400 dead, over 2,000 injured, and hundreds…
Speaking Justice to Power
By Jennifer Curtis and Randi Irwin As states in both North and South America expand authoritarian practices of confinement, citizens balance responding to immediate crises, such as the Trump administration’s…
AAA Workshop: Empowering Contingent Faculty
What are your rights as contingent faculty? How can you improve your working conditions? The Society for the Anthropology of Work will host a workshop during the AAAs for contingent faculty to learn…
