Full Description
In State of Fear, Joshua Barker reckons with how fear and violence are produced and reproduced through everyday practices of rule and control. Examining the ethnographic and historical genealogies of Indonesian policing, Barker focuses on the city of Bandung, which is permeated by anxieties about security, in spite of the fact that it's a relatively safe city according to the data. Drawing from his fieldwork there during the latter years of the authoritarian New Order regime, Barker traces the complex relationship between the state and vigilante groups like neighborhood watch patrols and street gangs. Through interviews with police officers, vigilantes, and street-level toughs, he uncovers a struggle between two visions of social control that continues to animate policing in Indonesia: the modern, bureaucratic approach favored by the state, and a territorial approach that divides the city into fiefdoms overseen by charismatic individuals of authority. Synthesizing insights from in-depth ethnographic, historical, and theoretical work, Barker reveals how authoritarianism can take root not just from the top down but also from the bottom up.
Contents
Illustrations ix
Abbreviations xi
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction: Fear, Policing, and State Power 1
Part One: Territoriality
1. Ronda: The Neighborhood Watch 33
2. Neighborhood Fears, Vigilantism, and Street Toughs 56
Part Two: Surveillance
3. Urban Panopticon 81
4. Subjects of Surveillance 113
Part Three: Articulations
5. State of Fear 139
6. The Police Precinct 174
Conclusion: Panopticism and Prowess in a Postcolonial City 214
Glossary 237
Notes 245
References 277
Index 295
