Campus Book Talk: “Mortal Doubt: Transnational Gangs and Social Order in Guatemala City"

The American University’s School of International Service hosted a book launch last Tuesday, exploring the violence of Central American gangs as well as the lack of context in today’s immigration politics.

Anthony Fontes, assistant professor at American, spent the last seven years writing “Mortal Doubt: Transnational Gangs and Social Order in Guatemala City.” The book and the event both highlight the issue of violence, Fontes said, as a “product of circular cycles of migration and deportation from the U.S. … pushing people north to flee, ironically, for a chance of safety and prosperity to the very country who was backing this violence.”

Anthony Fontes, ethnographer and professor at American University, stands in front of one of the photos he took while studying the violence of transnational gangs in Guatemala. His words and pictures tell a story of hopelessness but bring to attention how interconnected the entire world is with the issue of violence. (Photo by Tommy Furlong)

Violence is one of the leading rationales behind politics of containment and the concept of “don’t let these gangsters in,” said Fontes. His work addressed this concept, claiming it “as utterly false and undermines real security.”

From Fontes’ perspective, violence must be looked at through a global lens. His work did so by depicting the intimate details of those personally affected and drawing connections with national, regional and global forces.

While the scope is broad, the personal stories set a human foundation. Eric Hershberg, director of American’s Center for Latin American and Latino Studies, described Fontes’ work as a “deep immersion into violence,” which “gave a story to people who are normally only visible as a set of statistics.”

Fontes provided context to common narratives around issues of immigration, the Central American migration “crisis,” says Hershberg, and the border wall. All context that is essential to understating the epicenter of the problem.

The event promoted these connections, more clearly depicting them by drawing on issues from outside of the book. Among Fontes and the other panelists – Steven Dudley, a highly respected crime journalist, and Micheline Marcom, a novelist – the discussions explored multiple perspectives on violence: “the very personal visceral,” said Fontes, as well as “the hard-nosed journalistic approach and the complexities of academics.”

Before panelists were given the opportunity to speak, Fontes read short excerpts from his book. These stories provided a segue into the next topic of discussion and were essential to establishing the human lens of Fontes’ research.

“By giving a well written story,” said Hershberg, “[Fontes] enables the readers to have a sense of presence in the story.”

On top of giving students the opportunity to learn and interact with faculty, Caleb Schmotter, the assistant director for the SIS research promotion team, said these events “help the faculty member publicize the book … and provides the school and faculty with a reason to invite someone they want to share the stage with.”

Clearly as Herzberg highlights, a well written story submerges a reader into the life of a book, but the event created real dialogue around a timely issue and gave students and adults time to connect personally with a body of research. Leaving the audience questioning in the end, what would we have done in those circumstances?