“Violence as usual”: Representations of criminal violence in a popular neighborhood of Mexico City

Abstract

In Mexico, the violence that has appeared during the last six years is not an element that has developed overnight. What has happened is that the “usual violence” has come to blend, within an adequate and proper context, with the irruption of international organized crime. This article well consider the background of “usual violence”, which as Elena Azaola has noted, has been ignored, or even tolerated, and the accumulated effects of which have contributed to the current growth of violence. From an anthropological perspective, the understanding of collective behavior towards delinquent violence is sought, as well as a contribution to the analysis of a problem rarely studied. What is the “usual violence”? What is it´s everyday expression? Where and why has the state failed, ignored or even tolerated delinquent violence? Which are the strategies of the common citizen to protect himself or herself from criminal violence? This article will attempt to answer these questions. It is based on ethnographic research and interviews carried out in a popular neighborhood of
Mexico City.