Book Review: No way out: Precarious living in the shadow of poverty and drug dealing

• Author: Ehsan Jozaghi
• Published date: 01 March 2019
• Date: 01 March 2019
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/1057567717737352
• Subject Matter: Book Reviews

From his practical experience in Sicilia and Colombia, Civico draw s a parallel between the

paramilitaries and the Sicilian mafia in terms of the relation betw een the state with organized

criminal groups (intreccio vs. intertwinement). However, this argumentation proposed by the author

at times seems somehow blind to cultural differences that may underlie the workings of both types of

criminal organizations as well as each state. Also, further use of literature to support the point would

have been appreciated for more clarity, especially with regard to Chapter 4.

Nonetheless, this argument is used by the author as a theoretical base for the analysis presented in

Chapters 5 and 6, through which the intertwinement between the state and the paramilitaries is

thoroughly explored to support the hypothesis presented in the introduction. These chapters are

highly valuable in terms of the analysis they contain, but, in my opinion, it would have been even

richer if the account of the relationship between the state and the paramilitary groups had been

complemented with the testimonies of demobilized paramilitary members presented in Chapter 2.

There are many interesting research questions that may arise from what is presented in Civico’s

work, from which I would like to highlight the paradoxical predicament of the paramilitaries

regarding their relation to the cocaine business versus their “limpieza” (social cleansing) activities,

which included the surveillance of social and moral order by prohibiting drug consumption in public

in the areas they controlled.

Civico’s fieldwork and choice of research methodology must be praised, since he bravely com-

mitted to collecting the human experience of the victimizers, putting himself at risk. In the intro-

duction, Civico reflects on his experience in terms that are moving and inspiring for the reader. For

field specialists, it will prove interesting and useful due to its contribution to understanding the

complex relation between the state and the paramilitaries as an illegitimate extension of its power

through the use of violent means. That is, how the state produces actors of gross human rights

violations and widespread violence, by relying on them to do its dirty work and fill in its functions

with regard to community social needs. This might help scholars and policy makers understand the

actions and inactions of the Colombian state during and after the demobilization process. Also, this

book could be recommended to an audience beyond scholars and specialists since it is written in a

clear and engaging manner.

Duck, W. (2015).

No way out: Precarious living in the shadow of poverty and drug dealing. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

192 pp. $25 (paperback), ISBN 978-0-226-29790-3.

Reviewed by: Ehsan Jozaghi, The BC Centre for Disease Control, Vancouver and The School of Population and

Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, British Columbia, Canada

DOI: 10.1177/1057567717737352

Professor Waverly Duck’s No Way Out: Precarious Living in the Shadow of Poverty and Drug

Dealing is not only a classic example of how to conduct excellent ethnographic research, but it also

highlights and challenges the public common misconceptions about previously known social the-

ories associated with poor and disadvantaged communities in a North American context.

Professor Duck’s approach to ethnographic research, as demonstrated through his 7-year research

commitment in a community he pseudonymously labeled “Bristol Hill”—a predominantly African

American, disadvantaged, and marginalized neighborhood—is a primary example to many graduate

students or junior researchers on the process of conducting proper observational qualitative analysis

and ethnographic research.

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