Anika Oettler

Exploding Crime? Topic Management in Central American Newspapers

It has become common to state that criminal violence has superseded political violence in Central America. This paper presents the first results of a research project which analyses the social construction of violent realities in Costa Rica, El Salvador and Nicaragua. The authors describe the print media landscape in Central America and examine both the quality of leading newspapers and the main clusters of topics constituting the news discourse on violence. The analysis of the macro-structure of topic management in Central American newspapers allows to differentiate the “talk of crime”: it is more heterogeneous than often thought. There are signs that the problem of juvenile delinquency is emerging as the center of a cross-country discourse on “ordinary violence”. On the other hand, the talk of crime is centered around few topic clusters, with sexual violence and border-related discourse on violence being of key importance. Finally, the paper points to a heterogeneous array of discourse events that is connected to political developments and power-relations.

Discourses on Violence in Costa Rica, El Salvador and Nicaragua: National Patterns of Attention and Cross-Border Discursive Nodes

It has become common to state that youth gangs and organized crime have seized Central America. For theories on contemporary Central American violence, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Nicaragua present important test cases, demonstrating the need to differentiate the diagnosis. First, national discourses on violence differ from country to country, with varying threat levels, patterns of attention, and discursive leitmotivs. Second, there are border-crossing discursive nodes such as the mara paradigm, the perception of grand corruption, and gender-based violence tied to cross-national, national or sub-national publics. The paper explores the ambiguity and plurivocality of contemporary discourses on violence, emanting from a variety of hegemonic and less powerful publics.

Anders, bedroht und bedrohlich — Jugendbanden in Zentralamerika

General James T. Hill, Kommandeur des US-Southern Command, druckt mit diesen Worten aus, was alle Welt uber die zentralamerikanische Gegenwart zu wissen glaubt. Zehn Jahre nach dem Ende des letzten Burgerkriegs in der Region verbindet die internationale Offentlichkeit nach wie vor hauptsachlich Gewalt und Unsicherheit mit Zentralamerika. Eines der wichtigsten und prominentesten Themen in diesem Zusammenhang sind seit einigen Jahren die Jugendbanden — die so genannten maras — in El Salvador, Guatemala und Honduras.

The London 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony and Its Polyphonous Aftermath

Global mega-events are widely perceived as a tool used by host countries’ elites to propagate national narratives. But how are the messages actually decoded by international publics? The article takes the case of the London 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony to reveal the multifaceted character of mediated responses to a global event. This case is particularly important for both postcolonial studies and globalization studies because the British self-presentation silenced the country’s imperial past. In the aftermath, there were varying degrees of both attention and interpretative depth. Most notably, the omission of the imperial past of the host country was not scandalized by most authors of the “global south.” Instead, newspaper reports were characterized by affirmation, localization, criticism, or benign neglect. Empirically, the study is based on online versions of 26 newspapers from Argentina, Cuba, Germany, Great Britain, India, Jamaica, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, United States, Zambia, Zimbabwe, as well as British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and Al Jazeera.

Do Qualitative Data Help in Addressing Central American Violence? Research Note on Data Collection

Taking as its point of departure debates on the value of criminal statistics and victimization surveys, this article explores the methodological challenge of an alternative approach to Central American violence(s). How can we collect qualitative data that help address the social construction of (in)security? The research project “Public Spaces and Violence in Central America” used multiple data sources, including guided interviews and pupils’ essays. Drawing on research experience in Nicaragua, this paper asks, How can we collect data that reveal lifeworld experiences as well as hegemonic and counter-discourses on violence? Why is it crucial to keep a research diary? What is a “failed” or a “good” interview? This article argues for a research design based on theoretical considerations, impulsiveness and, most notably, constant self-reflection.

Valorising Victims’ Ambivalences in Contemporary Trends in Transitional Justice

Since the 1990s we can observe both an increasing inclusion of victims as participants in transitional justice processes and a still ongoing debate on the opportunities and risks of such an inclusion. In this chapter we first illustrate several ways in which victims become more integrated into transitional justice. We argue that the valorisation of the victim can basically be traced back to the institutionalisation and dissemination of human rights, which served as a central reference point for social movements in order to demand victims’ rights in the context of dealing with past macro violence. Institutionally, victim participation is visible in transitional justice efforts of international criminal law. Since the present debate about the possibilities and risks of transitional justice is strongly focused on the proceedings of the International Criminal Court (ICC), this example seems particularly well suited to discuss the specific form of victim participation. After the reconstruction of the enhancement of victim participation we will conclude by discussing the ambiguities that result from this enhancement for both the victims and transitional justice processes.

Jugendbanden in Zentralamerika – Zur sozialen Konstruktion einer teuflischen Tätergruppe

Uber ein Jahrzehnt nach dem Ende des letzten Burgerkriegs in Zentralamerika verbindet die internationale Offentlichkeit nach wie vor hauptsachlich Gewalt und Unsicherheit mit der Region. Eines der wichtigsten und prominentesten Themen sind in diesem Zusammenhang seit einigen Jahren kriminelle Jugendbanden, vor allem die so genannten maras, eine spezielle Form von Jugendgangs in El Salvador, Honduras und Guatemala (Huhn/Oettler/Peetz 2008a). Kriminelle und gewalttatige Jugendliche werden in und auserhalb der Region als ein Hauptfaktor fur Unsicherheit diskutiert. Die gesicherten Erkenntnisse uber die Gangs, ihre Grosenordnung, ihre Organisationsstrukturen oder das von ihnen tatsachlich ausgehende Gewaltmas sind jedoch gering (Huhn/Oettler 2006; Huhn/Oettler/Peetz 2008a; Bellan-ger/Rocha 2009). Vernachlassigt wird auch die Analyse der offentlichen Auseinandersetzung uber soziale Ursachen, den angemessenen kollektiven Umgang und die gesellschaftlichen Folgen von Jugendgewalt in Zentralamerika. Thema dieses Beitrages, der auf ein Forschungsprojekt zu „Offentlichkeiten und Gewalt in Zentralamerika“ zuruckgeht, ist die Frage, wer Jugendbanden als Hauptproblem der Inneren Sicherheit oder der gesellschaftlichen Entwicklung wahrnimmt beziehungsweise darstellt. Wir konzentrieren uns dabei auf Costa Rica, El Salvador und Nicaragua.