LAURA BLUME
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  • CV
  • Publications
  • VAPF
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​About Me

Photo by Laura Blume (Honduras 2018)

​I am an assistant professor in the department of Political Science and faculty affiliate in the Gender, Race, & Identity (GRI) department at the University of Nevada, Reno. My teaching and research interests include the war on drugs, criminal governance, political violence, corruption, and illicit economies, with a regional focus on Latin America and the Caribbean. Before joining the faculty at UNR, I earned my PhD in political science from Boston University in 2020 and graduated cum laude from Simmons College in 2013 with a BA in political science.

I won a 2022 Harry Frank Guggenheim Distinguished Scholar Award to support my project tracking Violence Against Public Figures (VAPF) in Central America.
 
My book project, The Art of Trafficking: How Politics Shapes Narco-Strategies and Violence in Central America, uses comparative ethnography to examine the ways in which politics impact drug-trafficking violence in Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. The Art of Trafficking is in production with Oxford University Press and is expected to be available in October 2025.

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