Busboys and Poets Books Presents Sonja Wolf
Date and Time
Oct 12, 2017 5:30 pm
Location
450K
450 K St NW, Washington, District of Columbia, 20001
Oct 12, 2017 5:30 pm
450K
Please join Busboys and Poets Books as we welcome author Sonja Wolf, author of Mano Dura: The Politics of Gang Control in El Salvador to our 5th and K location.
Drawing on extensive ethnographic fieldwork and policy analysis, Mano Dura examines the activities of three nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that have advocated for more nuanced policies to eradicate gangs and the societal issues that are both a cause and an effect of gang proliferation. While other studies of street gangs have focused on relatively distant countries such as Colombia, Argentina, and Jamaica, Sonja Wolf’s research takes us to a country closer to the United States, where forced deportation has brought with it US gang culture. Charting the limited success of NGOs in influencing El Salvador’s security policies, the book brings to light key contextual aspects—including myopic media coverage and the ironic populist support for ARENA, despite the party’s protection of the elite at the expense of the greater society.
Wolf will be joined with a panel of others to discuss gang control in El Salvador. Panelists include: Manuel Perez Rocha from the Institute of Policy Studies, Lisa Haugaard, Executive Director of the Latin American Working Group, Geoff Thale, Washington Office on Latin America's El Salvador Project Director, Hector Silva Au's Center for Latin American and Latino Center and Luis Cardenas, Montgomery County's HHS Anti Gang Project, a former gang member.
Books will be available before and after the event.
