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Short abstract:

We argue that Latin American STS should contribute to the research on the production of technologies and knowledge in non-traditional spaces, largely outside the purview of the State.

Long abstract:

Social Sciences, particularly Terrorism Studies and Criminology, have employed a perspective from the State to generate knowledge about the actions of those deemed deviant, criminal, outside the law, among others (Gootenberg, 2005). This type of approach commonly constructs dualistic divisions, separating practices, actions and artifacts considered destructive, undesirable, or hostile from the rest of society, revealing certain ontologies, epistemologies and, certainly, politics of knowledge.

In this paper, we argue that Latin American STS should contribute to the research on the production of technologies and knowledge in non-traditional spaces, largely outside the purview of the State. Instead of adhering to rigid dichotomies between the “social” and the “asocial”, the grey approach defends a more nuanced sociological perspective regarding “criminal actors”, advocating for the analysis of these practices from a non-dualistic social standpoint (Martin, 2022). Based on previous research on drug trafficking and guerrilla warfare in Colombia, we propose addressing technologies and knowledge in grey zones from different interconnected elements that takes into account the geographies and histories of such technologies.