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SUMMARY:Securing Insecurity: Rethinking Livelihoods\, Violence\, and Vulne
 rability in DRC's Cannabis Trade - Dr. Ann Laudati\, University of Bristol
DTSTART:20131119T130000Z
DTEND:20131119T140000Z
UID:TALK47914@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:RSKD
DESCRIPTION:When speaking of the stark differences between the internation
 al attention given to conflict timber compared to that of conflict mineral
 s\, a blood diamond campaigner stated\, “Diamonds are sexy and logs are 
 not” (Yearsley\, 2000\; Cited in Le Billion 2003:271).  Academic researc
 h on ‘war economies’ and scholarship seeking to uncover the realities 
 of the ‘resource curse’\, have seemingly been seduced by similar tempt
 ations. Today\, much of the literature linking natural resources and viole
 nt conflict\, focuses on the exploitation\, the trade\, and the impact of 
 mineral economies\, ignoring in the process the role that a broader repert
 oire of natural resources plays in shaping violence\, and subsequently in 
 ensuring peace.  This presentation centers on one of these previously unde
 rtheorized and understudied non-mineral economies. Drawing from four month
 s of qualitative research on the trade in marijuana in Eastern Democratic 
 Republic of Congo\, I'll consider the dual role that marijuana plays for l
 ocal livelihoods as well as a source of violence. Contrary to commonly hel
 d opinion of marijuana’s influence on violence\, however\, I will presen
 t an alternative story of drug related violence in the region. Namely\, th
 is presentation argues that the dangers stemming from an entanglement with
  the drug are rather\, as one informant aptly stated\, the result of ‘se
 curity’.  Building on a rich anthropological foundation which seeks to u
 nderstand ‘the everyday violence’ in warscapes\, and contributing to a
  growing but yet still unfulfilled political ecology of war\, this talk pr
 esents a case study which contends that the violence associated with Congo
 ’s drug problem lies not with the people who take the drugs nor with tho
 se who traffic them but rather it is its very prohibition that shapes viol
 ence in the region.    
LOCATION:Seminar Room
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