In parts of Latin America, violence has developed a seemingly unstoppable dynamic of its own. The boundaries between the legal and the illegal, between the state and organized crime, between lawful and lawless life are blurring. Unlike the political violence of the last century, this new violence has no clearly identifiable centers of control and often lacks a discernible target. It is more explicit yet more opaque, both local and global: seemingly anyone can be an actor or a victim, supposedly anywhere.

How can we think about the relationships between the levels and places of our violent present – from the body to the global, from Europe to Latin America? Where and by whom is power organized and exercised today? What purpose does violence serve, and how can we decipher its global entanglement? How can we talk about it, represent it, and take action against it?

With contributions from Carlos Beristain, Verónica Gago, Anne Huffschmid, Mario Rufer, and Rita Segato, among others.