Activism in Zones of Violence and Institutional Fragility: The Case of Michoacán, Mexico

Dr. Trevor Stack (University of Aberdeen) - Drawing on fresh research from a large ESRC-funded team project in Mexico, I will address the challenges faced by activists or rights defenders within contexts where they are not only fearful of violence but also frustrated by the inadequacy of institutional channels. In such difficult contexts, where state institutions may well be part of the problem, it would seem that activist groups have a vital role to play. How can they make headway in the struggle for institutions that offer a real guarantee of justice?

Trevor Stack is Director of the Centre for Citizenship, Civil Society and Rule of Law (CISRUL) and Senior Lecturer in Spanish and Latin American Studies, University of Aberdeen. He works on citizenship and civil society, mainly in Mexico, and is currently PI of an ESRC project on activism in difficult contexts (as well as a Horizon 2020 Marie Curie project on Political Concepts in the World). He is the author of Knowing History in Mexico: An Ethnography of Citizenship (University of New Mexico Press, 2012) and lead editor of Religion as a Category of Governance and Sovereignty (Brill, 2015).