Introduction

Abstract

In 2007, while I was on fieldwork in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, I was returning to my parents’ house after running errands with my mother. As we stepped out of the car, two men wearing helmets on a motorcycle stopped close. One got off and approached us and, without taking off his helmet, snatched my bag. In seconds, he reached out violently for my mother’s purse. She attempted to hang on to it when the man pushed her hard to the ground. Quickly, he hopped on to the motorcycle and went off. My mother and I were shocked. I started going over the contents I had lost: my wallet with bank and credit card, and my MP3 player. I did not have much. Both of us were thankful that we had come out of the theft alive, with no wounds. Right after the violent incident, my mother’s neighbors came out telling us that they had seen the whole thing, and we retold each other the incident again and again. Meanwhile, we went into the house to cancel our credit and debit cards and try to collect ourselves.