During the Winter Semester, the Colloquium for Latin American Studies at Leipzig University (CeL-Le) will take as a starting point G. Elwert’s concept “markets of violence” for exploring the following questions: Under which conditions does the use of force generate profit? How does violence change the benefits and, thus, the behavior of political and economic actors over time? Building on case studies, we will look at the interconnections between diverse actors and how these are articulated through violence, for instance, in the context of colonial expansion, nation-state building, guerilla wars, drug trade, migration, and media coverage of conflicts in Latin America.

Cel-Le is a space welcoming students and researchers of different disciplines like history, sociology, anthropology, political science, cultural studies, and global studies (to name a few). All members of the Leipzig community researching on Latin America or interested in the region are welcome to attend and to discuss academic topics of current relevance, as well as undergoing research (for example, chapters of master or doctoral thesis, research papers, conference presentations, etc.).

Up to two papers or presentations will be discussed per meeting. The presenters will have to circulate them a week beforehand, and a colloquium member will prepare a comment to kick off the discussion.

For registration, please send an email uto cel-le(at)uni-leipzig.de.