Edgar Franco-Vivanco

Edgar Franco-Vivanco is an assistant professor at the University of Michigan. Edgar’s research agenda explores how colonial era institutions and contemporary criminal violence shape economic under-performance, particularly within Latin America. His dissertation-related book project studies the role Indigenous groups have played in the state-building process of the region since colonial times. Using extensive archival data of colonial Mexican courts, combined with automated text analysis, he examines the complex interactions between Indigenous communities and the colonial state. Edgar’s research on contemporary challenges to development focuses on criminal violence and policing. He is co-authoring a book that draws on extensive fieldwork in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to study the differentiated effects of state interventions against organized criminal groups.`