Building trust, mobilizing security: The making and selling of armoured cars in Guatemala City

Abstract

Dozens of boutique auto shops in Guatemala City fortify cars against varying levels of threat, from 9 mm pistols to military grade assault rifles. Mechanics line windows, wheels, and even skylights with bulletproof materials, promising an almost impenetrable vehicle amid a decidedly violent Central American city. In response to this growing confidence not just in Kevlar but also the intimacy of artisanal labour, this paper engages the culture of armoured cars to open an ethnographic window into the construction of trust amid a social context rife with urban violence, political corruption and economic inequality. As extended fieldwork evidences, mobile fortification reorients social relationships towards the imperative to trust – auto shop owners, mechanics and even the cars themselves – while also expanding the footprint of those who supposedly occupy the wrong side of a security wall.