Law in a Lawless Land: Diary of a Limpieza in Colombia

by Michael Taussig

A modern nation in a state of total disorder, Colombia is an international flashpoint—wracked by more than half a century of civil war, political conflict, and drug-trade related violence—despite a multibillion dollar American commitment that makes it the third-largest recipient of U.S. foreign aid.

Law in a Lawless Land offers a rare and penetrating insight into the nature of Colombia's present peril. In a nuanced account of the human consequences of a disintegrating state, anthropologist Michael Taussig chronicles two weeks in a small town in Colombia's Cauca Valley taken over by paramilitaries that brazenly assassinate adolescent gang members. Armed with automatic weapons and computer-generated lists of names and photographs, the paramilitaries have the tacit support of the police and even many of the desperate townspeople, who are seeking any solution to the crushing uncertainty of violence in their lives. Concentrating on everyday experience, Taussig forces readers to confront a kind of terror to which they have become numb and complacent.

"If you want to know what it is like to live in a country where the state has disintegrated, this moving book by an anthropologist well known for his writings on murderous Colombia will tell you."—Eric Hobsbawm

Genres: Anthropology, Ethnography, Nonfiction

222 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Michael Taussig (born 1940) earned a medical degree from the University of Sydney, received his PhD. in anthropology from the London School of Economics and is a professor at Columbia University and European Graduate School. Although he has published on medical anthropology, he is best known for his engagement with Marx's idea of commodity fetishism, especially in terms of the work of Walter Benjamin.

Reviews

[Athena · Rating 4 out of 5]

This small book is the revised version of a diary Taussig kept during a two-week stay in a small Colombian town undergoing a limpieza (cleansing of "delinquents" by paramilitaries). It is a very vivid portrayal of what daily life is like in a society where, in Walter Benjamin's words, "the state of emergency ... is not the exception but the rule." Taussig recounts the stories of various acquaintances and describes the circumstances of specific murders as he grapples with what it means to live under a regime of violence and discipline where the law is virtually indistinguishable from lawlessness. With large portions of Colombia divided up by left-wing guerillas or right-wing paramilitaries, Taussig refers to the state as a "void," the "hollow center [of a doughnut-like pastry:] we can never get to know."

What is most compelling about this book is the mix of documentary/ethnographic testimony and self-reflection. Towards the end, though, when Taussig muses on the function of a diary, the self-reflection becomes a little contrived. Also, given the format, many of the thoughts here are sketchy -- probably better fleshed out in Taussig's other books.

[Erica Reichert · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating, thoughtful, and intrinsically moral examination of state-sponsored political violence in Columbia. True to the diary form, Taussig's narrative sticks close to an on-the-ground journalistic (or anthropological) narrative of day-to-day life in Columbia under paramilitary rule. The only limit of the book is its microscopic focus on single man-on-the-street informants. For a more broad-scale examination of contemporary Columbia, readers will need to look elsewhere.

[Henry Maxwell · Rating 3 out of 5]

As an Anthropology major, not my favorite Ethnography by any means. I found the concept incredibly fascinating and almost cinematic, but I read Ethnographies for some sort of bridged narrative-on-the-ground-research blend, the former something I found mostly missing. This was in part due to a few factors: a) this one only takes place over a two week span, broken into chapters by the "day." Characters, real people, often a huge part of the thrill of dark-topic ethnography, were often labeled by their first initial (e.g. "L") to protect their confidentiality (because who would want to be associated with an American Anthropologist researcher), and thus I found myself struggling to develop my own "bond" with any of the characters, or actually follow individual "storylines" or archs for any of the characters. I was initially attracted to this writing style because I saw it as incredibly "raw" and knew it would be a bit unforgiving. However, after completing it I think it was TOO unforgiving. My department head did caution me of this and wanted to recommend other Taussig works (he's met the guy!!!) and I do look forward to experiencing more fleshed out and structured works in the future. His closest work to this is "My Cocaine Museum," but there are a variety of works that supposedely act in a more efficient manner.

[Erok · Rating 4 out of 5]

an extremely engaging and personal diary of an anthropologist who has been visiting the same village in colombia since the late sixties to understand why there is so much violence, and the effect it has on people. Using his interactions with people to describe their take on events shows how much fear and confusion there is, and how that's used to suppress the populace. He is also very critical of the US involvement (duh). For those who want to understand how this changed and affected ordinary people, as opposed to the usual history of the exploitative and power hungry state, paramilitary and guerrilla conflict. if you don't know much about the conflict, i recommend reading the last chapter first, as it's a very brief intro to the last 100 years. I can't figure out a good reason for putting that at the end, because i felt that if you didn't know much about what was going on there, you may get lost reading it, and if you do know about it, it's sort of a moot point. Overall, it definitely reads like a diary, a bit lacking in organization, but it seems as if he knew he would try to publish this early on or edited it heavily to make it more readable.

Most of this was written in 2001, the year i went to colombia, and apparently one of the most violent years in the more recent past. I feel kind of stupid for going then, without really knowing what i was getting into. I suppose i was lucky because nothing bad happened.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just in case you were afraid that the world was too nice...
The things happening in Colombia--in 2001--are crazy (though we never hear about them). Taussig, as an anthropologist, tries to personalize the intensity of the fucked-up-edness that exists in a country where para-military right wing wackos run around killing outcasts and strangers (and, supposedly, FARC guerrillas). This book is about how everyday violence twists society out of itself...well-written, depressing, interesting

[Jono · Rating 4 out of 5]

Forget all those dramatised guns, gangs and dollops of cocaine packed colombia books. I'm sitting in Medellin writing this -this book says far more about life here than that other shit. Ok the guy gets a bit obscure at times but 90% of it is spot on

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fascinating, disturbing, and extremely thoughtful examination of legal, quasi-legal, and illegal violence in Colombia.

[Dylan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well written diary all about crazy situations in Colombia. Kept me hooked AND informed.

[Geo · Rating 3 out of 5]

there are some excellent things about this book, but there are also some pretentious and uncritical moments.

[Daniel Burton-Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

Grim journal of a social cleansing by an old Colombia hand.

[Mills College Library]

303.60986 T228 2005

[Professor Weasel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Powerful and sad. A creative and inspiring way to write contemporary academic criticism: a mix of the personal and the reflective/analytical.