Nonbinary Governance Epistemologies / Epistemologias de Governança Nãobinárias: Entangled Circuits of Violence, Crime, and Governmental Syncretism

Parallel state, hybrid governance zone, and nongovernance areas: while pointing out relationships between drug traffickers, militias, and government actors, these concepts maintain a strict binary notion of order. They do so by juxtaposing nonstate actors and crime-ridden populations, on the one hand, and the state on the other. This fosters blame against Black and working-class populations—as almost naturally spawning the criminal worlds of the nonstate, while being engaged by the formal, visible state only in moments of coercion, punishment, or extermination. Also, this binary epistemology of governance is a political-economic regime. This chapter elevates the concept of a nonbinary crossroads epistemology for understanding the true formations of rule. It spotlights the regular and nonexceptional operation of this kind of entangled governance. It is more useful to understand the relationships between paramilitary groups and government forces as a complex constellation of powers, knowledge, and interests that constitute parastatal state formation.