Migration and the Americas  When the State Becomes the Threat: Acting Politically Amid Rising Authoritarianism in Central America

In spite of various differences between the countries, in both cases rising authoritarianism has led to the expansion of security forces and carceral capacity, purges of the judicial apparatus, and a clear politicization of the institutions of crime control as they have come to fall under the direct control of the presidency. Anchored in anti-carceral activism and a critical understanding of the state, Dr Weegels draws on collaborative ethnographic research projects with Salvadoran and Nicaraguan justice-seeking initiatives, eliciting the ways in which young people creatively organize to protect their bodies and communities in the face of penal excess. Finally, the talk discusses opportunities as well as severe limitations for anti-carceral organizing within the present hemispheric panorama.