14.11.23

Melina C Kalfelis | University of Bayreuth

This talk examines vigilante practices of restructuring of crime and violence in urban Burkina Faso. Focusing on the way koglweogo self-defense groups run prisons and mediate conflicts surrounding crime, I analyze vigilantes attempts to disrupt and reconcile criminal violations in everyday life. Moving the focus away from state-related and cultural dimensions of vigilantism to the intimate nature of crime, I illustrate the compassionate and inclusive nature of vigilante politics in West Africa. In doing so, I will analyze how vigilante violence operates in social situations and revisit assumed boundaries between perpetrator and victim.