Deadline: Crime, Journalism, and Fearful Citizenship in Caracas, Venezuela
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DEADLINE: CRIME, JOURNALISM, AND FEARFUL CITIZENSHIP IN CARACAS, VENEZUELA A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY AND THE COMMITTEE ON GRADUATE STUDIES OF STANFORD UNIVERSITY IN PARTIAL FULFULLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Robert Nathan Samet November 2012 © 2012 by Robert Nathan Samet. All Rights Reserved. Re-distributed by Stanford University under license with the author. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution- Noncommercial 3.0 United States License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/us/ This dissertation is online at: http://purl.stanford.edu/dn875vt7129 ii I certify that I have read this dissertation and that, in my opinion, it is fully adequate in scope and quality as a dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Sylvia Yanagisako, Primary Adviser I certify that I have read this dissertation and that, in my opinion, it is fully adequate in scope and quality as a dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Paulla Ebron I certify that I have read this dissertation and that, in my opinion, it is fully adequate in scope and quality as a dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. James Ferguson I certify that I have read this dissertation and that, in my opinion, it is fully adequate in scope and quality as a dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Terry Karl I certify that I have read this dissertation and that, in my opinion, it is fully adequate in scope and quality as a dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Frederick Turner Approved for the Stanford University Committee on Graduate Studies. Patricia J. Gumport, Vice Provost Graduate Education This signature page was generated electronically upon submission of this dissertation in electronic format. An original signed hard copy of the signature page is on file in University Archives. iii iv ABSTRACT This dissertation traces the constitutive relationship between the press and populism in Venezuela through an account of crime journalism. Based on more than two years of research alongside journalists on the Caracas crime beat, it analyzes how demands for security mobilized disparate sectors of society around a common cause. The vital link between the politics of security and populist mobilization is something that scholars have only recently begun to recognize (Bottoms 1995; Garland 2002; Pratt 2007; Wacquant 2009). Although my analysis focuses specifically on Venezuela, I believe that it has implications for studies of crime and for studies of populism more generally. This dissertation sets out three interrelated findings. First, crime news creates victims. I mean this in a discursive sense: crime news reproduces the figure of the innocent, wholesome victim. A glance at the morning papers or the midday news confirms as much. Crime journalism is replete with images of grieving relatives and stories about good kids, hard-working men, and beloved mothers who were murdered for no reason at all. Anthropologists studying mass media representations of crime have looked almost exclusively at the figure of the criminal. We know where the category of the criminal leads—to the body of the young, poor, dangerous, black male. What can we learn by following the category of the victim? Second, in Venezuela victimhood becomes legible through the discursive practice of denunciation. We tend to think of victims as silent, passive objects; yet in Venezuela victimhood is anything but silent. To the contrary, the victim is an active performer, someone who voices sentiments of rage, grief, tragedy, and fear. To denounce is to assert one’s victimhood publicly, usually through the medium of the press. Third and finally, denunciations made in the name of victims are the building blocks that form populist movements. In Culture & Truth, anthropologist Renato Rosaldo talks about how finding the rage in grief helped him understand the impetus for Illongot headhunting (Rosaldo 1993). I argue that by seeing the rage in victimhood, we begin to understand the impetus behind populist mobilizations against violent crime. The discursive practices of denunciation on the part of victims, journalists, pundits, and media v moguls allow us to analyze this process. Rather than reducing the phenomenon to a moral panic or a mob mentality, an analysis of denunciation actually shows us the mechanisms and the micro-politics through which the populist movements take shape. vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Many people have given generously of themselves and their time in the making of this dissertation. First and foremost, I would like to thank all of the journalists in Venezuela who made this project possible. Despite the tense political atmosphere in Venezuela, they trusted me and allowed me into their lives. If I followed them every day of my fieldwork, then they have followed me throughout the writing process. Per the norms of anthropology and contra the norms of journalism, I have chosen not to reveal their names in the text of this dissertation. In the future (and with their permission) I would like to write them back into the story. For the time being, I hope that this all-too- short list will at least acknowledge a few of the people to whom I am eternally grateful: Altagracia Anzola, Felicita Blanco, Laura Dávila Truelo, Alex Delgado, Oliver Fernández, Gustavo Frisneda, David González, Felipe González Roa, Sandra Guerrero, Santiago Gutierrez, María Isoliett Iglesias, Mayela León, Sabrina Machado, Ricardo Matheus, Javier Mayorca, Thabata Molina, María Alejandra Monagas, Jenny Oropeza, Efrén Pérez Hernández, Jose Pernalete, Wilmer Poleo, Deivis Ramíerez Miranda, Luz Mely Reyes, Gustavo Rodríguez, Eligio Rojas, Fernando Sánchez, Luis Vallenilla, and Laura Weffer. I would also like to extend a special thank you to the editors and owners of Últimas Noticias and El Nacional who welcomed me with opened arms. My committee was with me at all phases of this project—Sylvia Yanagisako, Paulla Ebron, James Ferguson, Terry Karl, and Fred Turner. I cannot thank them enough for the meetings, letters of recommendation, and gestures of encouragement along the way. Sylvia Yanagisako, my advisor, was a constant source of inspiration and support. She shaped this project from its inception, often in ways that I did not immediately recognize. She also set an example of grace and good humor, which I will always strive to emulate. Paulla Ebron was the first person to call me from Stanford University and she acted as a mentor throughout my years in graduate school. Along with our conversations about media, crime, and politics, Paulla showed me a pedagogical approach that I have tried to make my own. James Ferguson constantly pushed my thinking, starting with coursework and continuing through the writing of this dissertation. Time and again, he showed me the lasting contributions that anthropology can make to our understanding of the world. Terry Karl generously adopted me from outside of her discipline. Few people vii have written as brilliantly on Venezuela as Terry, and I felt very fortunate for her suggestions and advice. Fred Turner was a voice of enthusiasm, a model of joyful scholarship, and a pragmatic guide in my graduate journey. He encouraged my interdisciplinary inclinations and I am deeply grateful for all of his advice. Beyond this wonderful dissertation committee, I greatly benefited from the indispensable guidance of many of the faculty at Stanford University, including Kathleen Coll, Claudia Engel, Ted Glasser, Thomas Blom Hansen, Miyako Inoue, and Liisa Malkki. There have been many others who have read sections of this dissertation and offered suggestions and encouragement. Sincere thanks to Fernando Coronil, Graham Denyer Willis, Daniel Hallin, Kevin Lewis O’Neill, Kimberly Theidon, Daniel Goldstein, Naomi Schiller, Natalia Roudakova, David Smilde, and Alejandro Velasco. In Venezuela, my research was oriented with the help of several scholars and researchers, including Andrés Antillano, Andrés Cañizalez, Victor Hugo Febres, Lorena Freites, and Elsie Rosales. During my time at Stanford University, I was lucky to be surrounded by an exceptional cohort of anthropologists. Nikhil Anand, Hannah Appel, Elif Babül, Maura Finklestein, Rania Sweiss, and Austin Zeiderman shaped my intellectual development and continue to be my closest interlocutors. I could not have done this without them. Along with my cohort-and-a-half, there were many others at Stanford whose help, friendship, and wisdom were invaluable. Tania Ahmad and Ramah McKay recruited me and made sure that I was well taken care of during my first years in the program. I also owe a hearty thanks to Mun Young Cho, Dolly Kikon, Aisha Ghani, Yoon-Jung Lee, Serena Love, Tomas Matza, Curtis Murungi, Zhanara Nauruzbayeva, Bruce O’Neill, Kevin O’Neill, Angel Roque, Joshua Samuels, and Thet Win, who were wonderful companions in graduate school. My roommate Peter Samuels pushed me intellectually, and I was all too happy to follow his example through many a late-night studying session. Natalia Roudakova played the role of informal mentor even after she left Stanford for the University of California, San Diego. I enjoyed many productive conversations with my colleagues in Stanford’s Department of Communication: Mike Ananny, Isabel Awad Cherit, Daniel Kreiss, Lise Marken, and Seeta Peña Gangadharan. Finally, my “fellow viii fellows” in the SSRC Drugs, Security, and Democracy program have been amazing. Thanks to all of you, especially Adam Baird, Damion Blake, Diana Bocareja, Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera, José Miguel Cruz, Graham Denyer Willis, Angelica Duran Martinez, Alex Fattal, Juan Felipe Moreno, Anthony Fontes, Paul Hathazy, Ellen Sharp, and Michael Wolff. The two people who did more than anyone else to get me through the Ph.D. program were our department administrator, Ellen Christensen, and our Student Services Officer, Shelly Coughlan. I deeply appreciated their help navigating the University bureaucracy and all of the intricacies of graduate schools. Even more than that, though, I appreciated their warmth.