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Leaky humanitarianism: The anthropology of small arms control in the Gambia
Author(s) -
HULTIN NIKLAS
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
american ethnologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.875
H-Index - 78
eISSN - 1548-1425
pISSN - 0094-0496
DOI - 10.1111/amet.12116
Subject(s) - bureaucracy , autocracy , state (computer science) , power (physics) , precarity , government (linguistics) , political anthropology , sociology , gun control , control (management) , political science , law , political economy , anthropology , politics , economics , philosophy , management , democracy , computer science , linguistics , physics , algorithm , quantum mechanics
Among Gambians, attitudes toward small arms control vary. For some, it appears as the unjust act of an overbearing and autocratic government; for others, it is part of the project of fashioning a modern state; for yet others, being licensed to carry a gun is a sign of respect from the state. On the basis of these differences, I develop the notion of “leaky humanitarianism” to capture how humanitarian small arms control underwrites state power. I further suggest that small arms control should be understood as a form of statecraft centered on injuring power and is thus a potent but underused diagnostic in the anthropology of the state. [ small arms control, the state, humanitarianism, the Gambia, hunters, precarity, bureaucracy ]