Jennifer Tucker

Outlaw Capital: Everyday Illegalities and the Making of Uneven Development With an ethnography of the largest contraband economy in the Americas running through Ciudad del Este, Paraguay, Outlaw Capital hows how conflicts over everyday illegalities shape urban development. By studying the differential treatment of “elite illegalities” and the “street illegalities” of street vendors, Outlaw Capital shows how racialized narratives of economic legitimacy across scales—not legal compliance—sort whose activities count as formal and legal and whose are targeted for reform or expulsion. Ultimately, reforms criminalized the popular economy while legalizing, protecting, and “whitening” elite illegalities.

Jennifer Tucker is an associate professor of Community and Regional Planning at the University of New Mexico. Her research focuses on urban inequality, social justice struggles and the frontiers of racial capitalism in the Americas.

Light refreshments will be served. This event is open to Columbia University affiliates with a valid university ID. Any questions on the events can be directed Diana Guo, dg3372@columbia.edu; Vinita Govindarajan, vg2588@columbia.edu; Mauricio Enrique Rada Orellana, mer2245@columbia.edu

The Lecture in Planning Series (LiPS) is organized by the second year PhD students in Urban Planning: Vinita Govindarajan, Diana Guo, and Mauricio Rada Orellana.