The Spectacular City

“Daniel Goldstein’s recent study of ‘dramas of citizenship’ in periurban Bolivia makes important contributions across a range of ethnographic and theoretical issues.” - Mark Goodale, American Anthropologist

“Situated within one of the most serious economic crises of contemporary Bolivia, this ethnography relates the causes of urban migration to national and global neoliberal transformations.” - Gabriela Zamorano, PoLAR

"[A] path-breaking ethnography of Andean Bolivia. . . . The rich contributions of The Spectacular City will appeal to specialists of development, violence, state formation, indigeneity, and Latin America, and the book is suitable for both undergraduate and graduate training." - Bret Gustafson, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute

"Vivid. . . . This is a thoroughly researched and well written work. . . . Scholars interested in neoliberal Latin America, urban studies and legal anthropology will want to read this book. The rich ethnographic descriptions, historical depth, transparent methodology, and well theorized comparison of the two seemingly different spectacles also make the book a very useful one for the classroom." - Douglas C. Hertzler, Journal of Latin American Anthropology

"Goldstein's perspectives on spectacle and violence provide an analytical framework that enriches the study of identity construction, development and marginalization in Latin America." - Juan Thomas Ordóñez, Anthropological Quarterly

"This is a beautifully written and thoughtful book. . . . This book will be of great interest to Bolivianists and to Latin American scholars in general, as it explores issues of interest across the continent, such as citizenship, social movements, and urban migration." - Nancy Postero, The Americas

"This is a superbly written and thought-provoking ethnographic study. . . ." - Dennis Rodgers, Journal of Latin American Studies

“The Spectacular City is a highly original contribution to the ethnography of law, violence, and the state. Goldstein explores the connections between localism and violence both as situated action and as genres of performance, resulting in a nuanced analysis of politics between state and nonstate forms.” - Carol Greenhouse, coeditor of Ethnography in Unstable Places: Everyday Lives in Contexts of Dramatic Political Change

“Fascinating and rich in ethnographic detail, The Spectacular City is particularly important at this moment because it examines the increase in common crime that has accompanied the consolidation of neoliberal capitalism in Latin America. Although it is widely appreciated that crime has gotten worse, there are very few anthropological studies that explore this phenomenon at the local level.” - Lesley Gill, author of The School of the Americas: Military Training and Political Violence in the Americas