Discursos y narrativas sobre violencia, miedo e inseguridad en México : el caso Ciudad Juárez

Abstract

In recent years, Mexican society

has been involved in a spiral of social violence. Most regions had not

experienced such a level of violence since the revolutionary period in

the early twentieth century, likewise for other parts of the country this social phenomenon has been totally unprecedented. These daily events have dramatically disrupted both the public and private lives all over the country. One of the aims of this book is to provide an academic analysis which can constitute an alternative to the interpretations and explanations given in a biased official discourse by the Mexican federal government. But also to give an interpretation which can be contrasted against the views provided by foreign politicians and officials who for almost a century have designed drug policies on the basis of prohibition. For this purpose, this study pays attention to the shocking and unexpected violent events that occur continuously in present-day Mexico. It also aims to contribute to the invention of an alternative discourse which adopts a critical stance towards the official discourse, by integrating new narratives and visions coming from civil society. This study also wants to match the existing quantitative records of empirical information with a qualitative approach based on critical reflections on the nature of violence in present-day Mexico. I consider it extremely important to make simultaneous use of both types of methodological approaches in dealing with the subject. This book considers the language quantifier an important anchor for the symbolic and cultural development of a complex subject which acquires new nuances and directions every day. The quantitative dimension can be enriched by adding the value of the word, as expressed in the telling, the narrative, and in the oral testimony. It is therefore important to analyze the speech of its citizens, in which we find rumors, myths, sadness, humor, and even silence. This study is based on different methodological perspectives. It has been primarily conceived from the point of view of a native who investigates his own society, as suggested by Teresa Pires do Rio. In other words, it represents a kind of work of ‘national sociology’ or to put in another way, a ‘sociology with an accent’ beyond the grammar and words. This means crossing the strictly methodological domain towards an epistemological positioning. These reflections on violence, fear, insecurity, public space and spatial segregation are marked by my own experience as a resident of this country and of Ciudad Juárez. As a result, an important part of the information was not deliberately gathered by me but it gradually came to me through daily interaction. For the past four years, I have had these experiences in everyday life, especially in the bi-national border region, but also in other parts of Mexico and abroad.