“You are the Scorpion and the Frog”: Crime, Politics and Labor in Argentina Since 1960

Abstract

The article focuses on the life history of Germán, an individual who lived on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Argentina, between 1948 and around 2012. Throughout his life, Germán worked, became a criminal, participated in a political armed struggle, was imprisoned for almost a decade, and joined a Buddhist group. The first part of his life history builds on interviews carried out in 1999, while the second part draws on interviews with Germán’s acquaintances conducted in 2021. His life history is embedded within almost 7 decades of Argentina’s turbulent political and social history, and sheds light on the place of “vital conjunctures” linked to broader changing political circumstances, as well as the particular relationship between political activism and professional crime, in a way that differs from mainstream representations within gang studies.