ABSTRACT
Violence, security and social control are three interconnected concepts that play an important role in the negotiation of urban order. In many contemporary cities, violence – whether armed robbery, sexual abuse, terrorist attacks or urban warfare – is a growing concern. Violence disrupts urban social order and is a threat to security. However, different social actors also use violence in attempts to maintain a certain type of order and to enhance the security of certain groups. Anthropologists have studied both the perpetrators and the victims of violence, emphasizing that the boundaries between these groups are not always clear. They have focused on the relations between marginalized residents, elites, criminal gangs, state security forces such as the police and military, and private security guards. This work underlines the destructive nature of urban violence and its horrific costs to lives, livelihoods and infrastructure. Anthropological studies have also explored the extent to which violence, in addition to being a force of destruction, is used ‘productively’, to pursue specific goals and shape social relations.
