The Right to Life Denied: The Culture of Violence along the Us-Mexican Border

Authors

  • Agnieszka Kaczmarek University of Applied Sciences in Nysa

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15584/sar.2018.15.1.4

Keywords:

Vulliamy, Amexica, American-Mexican border, cartel, violence

Abstract

With a focus on Ed Vulliamy's “Amexica: War Along the Borderline” (2010), the outcome of the author's field research in the American-Mexican borderlands, the article aims to present the progressive brutalization of the border's public life. Discussing the quantitative and qualitative scale of violence in Mexico, it explains the main reasons for the escalation of bloodshed, attributable, among other things, to cartels, which function in a similar way to legal international corporations. The article also exemplifies how drug trafficking organizations shape the culture of violence in public space, discourse, entertainment, and education. In addition, the purpose of this paper is to show that to a certain extent the United States is co-responsible for the flourishing culture of violence there, which clearly affects not only its southern neighbor, but also American citizens.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Bisogno, Enrico, Jenna Dawson-Faber, Michael Jandl, Kristiina Kangaspunta, Labib Kazkaz, Lucia Motolinia Carballo, Serena Oliva, Felix Reiterer (eds) (2014) Global Study on Homicide 2013: Trends, Contexts, Data. Vienna: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. [available at: https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/statistics/GSH2013/2014_GLOBAL_HOMICIDE_BOOK_web.pdf – acessed January 7, 2018].

Hasin, Deborah S., Tulshi D. Saha, Bradley T. Kerridge, Risë B. Goldstein, S. Patricia Chou, Haitao Zhang, Jeesun Jung, Roger P. Pickering, W. June Ruan, Sharon M. Smith, Boji Huang, Bridget F. Grant (2015) “Prevalence of marijuana use disorders in the United States between 2001-2002 and 2012-2013.” JAMA Psychiatry. Vol. 72/12; 1235-1242. [doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2015.1858].

Heinle, Kimberly, Cory Molzahn, David A. Shirk (2015) Drug Violence in Mexico: Data and Analysis Through 2014. San Diego: University of San Diego.

Morton, Adam D. (2012) “The war on drugs in Mexico: A failed state?” Third World Quarterly. Vol. 33/9; 1631-1645.

Preston, Julia, Samuel Dillon (2004) Opening Mexico: The Making of a Democracy. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Resnick, Philip (2012) The Labyrinth of North American Identities. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

Vulliamy, Ed (2011) Amexica: War Along the Borderline. London: Vintage Books.

Bostrom, Nick (2009) “The transhumanist declaration.” [In:] Nick Bostrom, A History of Transhumanist Thought; 26-27. [http://www.nickbostrom.com/papers/history.pdf – accessed June 2, 2017].

Boudreaux, Richard (2005) “Mexico's master of elusion.” Los Angeles Times, July 5. [available at: http://articles.latimes.com/2005/jul/05/world/fg-shorty5/2 – accessed June 9, 2017].

“Call of Juarez: The Cartel - GDC 2011: Official Debut Trailer” (2011) YouTube video posted by XboxViewTV – Gameplay & Trailers, March 3. [available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlENeJMbCdw – accessed June 23, 2017].

“Cartel Del Golfo Apoyando Aldama, Tamps” (2013) YouTube video posted by ayudando2013, September 22. [available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaFqh2WebXA – accessed June 5, 2017].

Hodgson, Martin (2004) “Death in the Midday Sun.” The Observer, September 19. [available at: https://www.theguardian.com/observer/omm/story/0,,1304449,00.html – accessed June 10, 2017].

Ingraham, Christopher (2014) “Where Gun Stores Outnumber Museums and Libraries.” The Washington Post, June 17. [available at: www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/06/17/where-gun-stores-outnumber-museums-and-libraries/?utm_term=.edac6a728056 – accessed June 22, 2017].

Rieff, David (2011) “The Struggle for Mexico.” The New Republic, March 17. [available at: https://newrepublic.com/article/85337/mexico-calderon-clinton-obama-drug-cartels – accessed June 7, 2017].

Schmall, Emily (2010) “Juarez Chic? Fashion Companies Make Wrong Turn at the Border.” Aol.com, July 24. [available at: https://www.aol.com/article/2010/07/24/m-a-c-rodarte-apologize-for-collection-inspired-by-women-of-ci/19565336/ – accessed June 22, 2017].

Techland (2017) “Witaj na nowym Dzikim Zachodzie [Welcome to the New Wild West].” [available at: http://development.techland.pl/call-of-juarez-the-cartel – accessed June 8, 2017].

US Department of Justice. Drug Enforcement Administration (2016) 2016 National Drug Threat Assessment Summary. DEA-DCT-DIR-001-17. [available at: https://www.dea.gov/resource-center/2016%20NDTA%20Summary.pdf – accessed June 20, 2017].

US Department of Justice. National Drug Intelligence Center (2008) National Drug Threat Assessment 2009. Product No. 2008-Q0317-005. [available at: https://www.justice.gov/archive/ndic/pubs31/31379/31379p.pdf – accessed June 20, 2017].

US Department of Justice. National Drug Intelligence Center (2011) National Drug Threat Assessment 2011. Product No. 2011-Q0317-001. [available at: https://www.justice.gov/archive/ndic/pubs44/44849/44849p.pdf – accessed June 20, 2017].

Vulliamy, Ed (2017) LinkedIn profile page. [available at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/edvulliamy – accessed June 2, 2017].

Vulliamy, Ed (2014) “Mexico: How arrest of the last don heralds ruthless new drugs era.” The Guardian, October 5. [available at: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/oct/05/mexico-war-on-drugs-hidden-story-joaquin-guzman-war-us – accessed June 10, 2017].

Zabludovsky, Karla (2014) “Public Relations, Narco Style.” Newsweek, January 15. [available at: http://www.newsweek.com/2014/01/17/public-relations-narco-style-245062.html – accessed May 23, 2017].

Downloads

Published

2018-06-15

How to Cite

Kaczmarek, A. (2018). The Right to Life Denied: The Culture of Violence along the Us-Mexican Border. Studia Anglica Resoviensia, 15(1), 47–58. https://doi.org/10.15584/sar.2018.15.1.4

Issue

Section

Articles