Cities in emergency: stigma, discourse, and power in Callao, Peru

Vargas-Villafuerte J.; Cuevas-Calderón E. · Urban Geography (2026) · DOI: 10.1080/02723638.2026.2700430

Resumen

This article examines press media discourse in relation to the spatial–temporal contexts of political and economic restructuring that have produced territorial stigmatization. The study focuses on Callao, Peru, a highly stigmatized city with high rates of violence. It analyzes how state-of-emergency decrees to combat crime in Callao form part of a historically rooted discursive genealogy through which the Peruvian state and the media frame certain territories as dangerous. In this context, we propose the concept of the biopolitical enemy to describe forms of life reduced to bare life and governed through the logic of the state of exception, in which populations are differentially protected and exposed to harm. Drawing on an extensive analysis of new reports and a review of institutional files, the article demonstrates the importance of discursively producing an enemy to justify the Peruvian state’s actions of order and control over slums. In addition, semi-structured interviews were conducted to analyze the effects of stigmatization on the self-perception and daily life of Callao residents. The study also shows that these discourses are not external to the dynamics of new urban renewal in Callao.

Instituciones: Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú; Universidad de Lima