Micropolitics in a Caracas Barrio The Political Survival Strategies of Mothers in a Context of Armed Violence

• Published in: Latin American research review Vol. 54; no. 2; pp. 429 - 443
• Main Authors: Zubillaga, Verónica, Llorens, Manuel, Souto, John
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Pittsburgh Latin American Studies Association 22.03.2019; Cambridge University Press
• Subjects: 21st century; Adolescent mothers; Casualties; Community centers; Containment; Culture; Dissemination; Ethnographic research; Ethnography; Family; Firearms; Gun violence; Homicide; Low income groups; Moreno, Alejandro; Mother-son relations; Mothers; Murders & murder attempts; Narratives; Negotiation; Neighborhoods; Organized crime; Pacts; Political activism; Political aspects; Politics; Refuge; Social activism; Social aspects; SOCIOLOGY; Survival; Survival strategies; Truces & cease fires; Urban poverty; Violence; Violent crime; Women; Young men; Young mothers; Youth violence; Venezuela; Brazil; New York; United States > US; Latin America
• ISSN: 0023-8791; 1542-4278
• DOI: 10.25222/larr.196

Venezuela has one of the highest rates of homicide in the Americas. Those who are dying are mostly men, and most are shot. Based on ethnographic research in poor, urban neighborhoods in Caracas, where guns are abundant and the state is absent, this article focuses on the repertoire of responses of mothers of armed young men toward violence. How are mothers responding to meet the extreme challenges of safeguarding the survival of their families? In what ways do they participate in the containment but also in the dissemination of violence? We describe the safeguarding practices deployed by women, which we interpret as political survival strategies. Drawing on women’s narratives, we have identified four strategies that contribute differently to the containment and reproduction of violence: submission and taking refuge, collaborating, resisting, and negotiating or forging of pacts. Venezuela tiene una de las tasas de homicidio más altas de América. La mayoría de las víctimas son hombres que han recibido disparos. Basado en una investigación etnográfica en barrios pobres caraqueños, donde hay abundancia de armas y ausencia del Estado, este artículo se enfoca en el repertorio de respuestas a la violencia de madres de hombres jóvenes armados. ¿Cómo responden las madres a los desafíos extremos de cuidar y procurar la sobrevivencia de sus familias? ¿De qué maneras participan tanto para contener la violencia como para estimularla? Describimos las prácticas de salvaguarda utilizadas por las mujeres que interpretamos como estrategias políticas de sobrevivencia. Utilizando las narrativas de las mujeres hemos identificado cuatro estrategias que contribuyen de manera distinta a la contención ya la reproducción de la violencia: someterse y refugiarse, colaborar, resistir y negociar o forjar pactos.