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Listening to Sicarios : narcoviolence in Ciudad Juárez, 2008-2012 / Arturo Chacón Castañón, Robert McKee Irwin.

9783030941185 (electronic bk.)
3030941183 (electronic bk.)
9783030941178
3030941175

Cham : Palgrave Macmillan, [2022]

©2022

English

1 online resource.

10.1007/978-3-030-94118-5 doi

HV6535.M6 C53 2022

364.152/40922

Listening to Sicarios presents new insights into the lives of paid assassins of Mexicos drug trafficking syndicates from the perspectives of the assassins themselves. Based on an extraordinary series of ethnographic interviews carried out in the wake of the record levels of narcoviolence experienced in Ciudad Juarez between 2008 and 2012, this study analyzes the ways in which these young men interpret their actions across four key thematic axes: border infrastructures, youth and responsibility, masculinity and sentiment, and ethics: good vs. evil. It argues that sicarios follow a career path within a criminal corporate infrastructure that is especially robust in Mexican border cities. It also explores how sicarios understand youthful innocence in relation to adult accountability in the realm of violence that is frequently meted out by young men on other young men. It then analyzes sicarios expressions of feelings of power that may boost their sense of virility, as well as feelings of fear and regret that imply weakness. Finally, it examines how sicarios defend their personal integrity in the face of a public discourse that views their acts as savage.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

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Online resource; title from PDF title page (SpringerLink, viewed March 14, 2022).

New directions in Latino American cultures.

Print version: 9783030941185
Print version: 9783030941178

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