Abstract

This article discusses the institutionalisation of calamity – in the form of fumigation and exposure to lethal violence – and its consequences over coca peasants and workers in Colombia. I show how institutionalised calamity indelibly marks their life trajectories, through repeated episodes of ‘total loss’. At the same time, it is a major illustration of a process of co-constitution of class, citizenship and state. In effect, institutionalised calamity endows illicit rural classes and economies with specific characteristics that diverge from the typical identikit attributed to peasants in some agrarian studies. These peasants and workers are much more mobile and risk prone, and less localistic and deferential, than it is frequently assumed, and have different demands with respect to markets, government and land. All this leaves a deep and lasting imprint on the claims for rights and recognition pacts demanded by them, triggering a double and apparently contradictory dynamic of rejection and inducement vis-à-vis the state. They resist state sallies into their territories, and the violence, brutality and stigmatisation associated with them. But, on the other hand, they push for infrastructure and regulation, indispensable not only for coca crops but also for any viable transit to legality. This dynamic has important spatial expressions.

摘要

本文讨论了灾难的制度化——以熏蒸和暴露于致命暴力的形式——及其对哥伦比亚古柯农民和工人的影响。我展示了制度化的灾难如何通过反复发生的“完全丧失”来不可磨灭地标记他们的生活轨迹。同时，它是阶级、公民和国家共同构成过程的主要例证。实际上，制度化的灾难赋予非法农村阶级和经济以特定特征，这些特征与某些农业研究中归因于农民的典型身份不同。这些农民和工人的流动性和风险性要高得多，而且比人们通常认为的更不拘泥于地方性和顺从性，并且对市场、政府和土地有不同的要求。所有这些都在他们要求的权利主张和承认协议上留下了深刻而持久的印记，引发了对国家的拒绝和诱导的双重且明显矛盾的动态。他们抵制国家对他们领土的进攻，以及与之相关的暴力、暴行和污名化。但是，另一方面，他们推动基础设施和监管，这不仅对于古柯作物而且对于任何可行的合法化过渡都是必不可少的。这种动态具有重要的空间表现形式。他们推动基础设施和监管，这不仅对于古柯作物而且对于任何可行的合法化过渡都是必不可少的。这种动态具有重要的空间表现形式。他们推动基础设施和监管，这不仅对于古柯作物而且对于任何可行的合法化过渡都是必不可少的。这种动态具有重要的空间表现形式。