Efrén Sandoval-Hernández

The purpose of the III Simposio en Antropolog’a “entre lo legal y lo illegal” is to broaden and formalize the creation of a network of anthropology about legal and illegal practices. It is expected that the meeting will harness dialogue to set concrete goals for the formalization of the network and commit the group to an IV Symposium in a short period of time (The Network exists informally with Brazilian and Argentinean anthropologists, who have met in Symposium only two previous times, in 2008 and 2016). Recently, due to the increase in violence, crimes and militarization, some anthropologists in Mexico have been interested in analyzing the limits between the legal and the illegal (criminalization, prisons, traffic, contraband, violence, illegalism, informality). Brazilian and Argentine anthropologists have extensive experience in fieldwork and publications on these issues. Some Mexican and South American anthropologists have exchanged experiences and perspectives in specific occasions, but it is necessary to consolidate the dialogue, promote comparisons and derive analyzes on the regional configurations of these phenomena. In Mexico, there is little anthropological research about the limits between legal and illegal practices; and the South American anthropologies are unaware of the accelerated changes that are happening in Mexico. The exchange between these anthropologies is necessary, and the Symposium would provide a space for it.