"This volume includes contributions of scholars from various fields--the social sciences, journalism, the humanities and the arts--whose work offers insightful and innovative ways to understand the devastating and unprecedented forms of violence currently experienced in Latin America. As an interdisciplinary endeavor, it offers an array of perspectives that contribute to ongoing debates in the study of violence in the region"--

"This volume addresses a situation now perceived among the most pressing issues faced by Latin America in our times: the proliferation of increasingly complex forms of violence, a reality with multiple ramifications, marking the socio-political landscape of the region in decisive ways. With contributions by scholars from various fields (the social sciences, journalism, and the humanities), this book examines not only the manifestations and the effects of violence but also the social acts that surround it and make it meaningful. Violence appears here as a natural yet dramatic manifestation of how individuals organize themselves in contemporary Latin America"--