The Soul of Security

Bibliographic Data

ID2920111
AuthorsKevin Lewis O’neill (0000-0001-6880-9146, corresponding author)
Year2012
Volume30
Issue2
Pages21-42
Publication date2012-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueSocial Text (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0164-2472 • E-ISSN: 1527-1951
PublisherDuke University Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1215/01642472-1541745
OpenAlexW2157788855
LanguageEN
Citations received10

Amid unprecedented rates of deportation as well as an ever-growing gang problem, bilingual call centers have become viable spaces of control in postwar Guatemala. They provide deported ex–gang members with not only well-paying jobs but also a work environment structured by Protestant images and imperatives. Be humble. Be punctual. Be patient. These corporately Christian virtues minister to the deported at every turn, inviting them to assume and become subsumed by ascetic subjectivities. These are monkish dispositions that provide a vital lynchpin between the political, the economic, and the subjective. They also coordinate (at the level of conduct) projects of capitalist accumulation with efforts at regional security. This assemblage of industries and ethics, made in the name of control, is what this article understands as the soul of security

Archaeology · Deportation · Economics · Epistemology · Immigration · Law and economics · Management · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Protestantism · Sociology · Soul · Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance · Engineering · History · Law · Philosophy

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