Migration in Central America

A series of publications coordinated by Gema Kloppe-Santamaría and Nathaniel Morris.

Over the past five years, the issue of Central American migration to the US has made headline news around the world. Despite the recent attention it has received, this phenomenon is far from new. While much political effort has been expended in characterizing these migrants, we still have little in-depth knowledge about the on-the-ground social, political, and economic realities that have driven so many citizens of Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and Nicaragua to leave their homes, communities, and in many cases loved ones to make the perilous trek north towards a chronically uncertain future.

As shown by the following series of articles it is violence that drives this Central American exodus, which even COVID-19 has proved incapable of slowing down. Drawing on extensive fieldwork in three different countries in Central America, combined with more explicitly social and political inquiry, Daniel Núñez, José Luis Rocha, and Sonja Wolf reveal the multiple forms that violence in Central America has taken over the past few years, and explore the diverse ways they affect different groups.

CHAPTERS

Mexico & Central America Program?

Click here

Press inquiries and information about this series?

Please reach out to us at:

mxac@noria-research.com

Those Who Live in Luvina. Power and Violence in the Mexican countryside.

Alexander Aviña10 March 202225 October 2022

This text is the conclusion of the Violence Takes Place Series. The Series has been coordinated by Jayson Maurice Porter and Alexander Aviña. Click here

The Guadalajara Cartel Never Existed

Carlos Pérez Ricart and Jack Pannell25 November 202117 January 2023

Introduction Everyone in Mexico has heard of the Guadalajara Cartel (Cartel de Guadalajara in Spanish), an organization that, from the beginning of the 1980’s and

Los datos de la violencia política-electoral en México 2020-2021

María Teresa Martínez Trujillo18 June 20214 October 2022

Esta página presenta el resumen de los datos de violencia violencia política-electoral 2020-2021. Este trabajo es parte del proyecto Elecciones y Violencia del Programa Noria

Executive Summary – How to Protect Electoral Candidates in Mexico?

Ana Velasco17 June 202127 October 2022

This is the Executive Summary of our Report on Protection Protocols for Electoral Candidates in Mexico This Report is part of the Elections & Violence

How to Protect Electoral Candidates in Mexico?

Ana Velasco17 June 202127 October 2022

This report is part of the Elections & Violence Project The report has been produced by Ana Velasco Ugalde, and coordinated by María Teresa Martínez

¿Cómo proteger los candidatos electorales en México?

Ana Velasco15 June 20214 October 2022

Este informe es parte del proyecto Elecciones y Violencia El trabajo fue realizado por Ana Velasco Ugalde y coordinado por María Teresa Martínez Trujillo y

The Hard Work of Fraud. Winning Elections and Losing Legitimacy in Chihuahua

Vanessa Freije4 June 20218 June 2021

Introduction “I had to figure out how to cast 1800 votes [for the PRI] all at once.”[note]Interview by author, Mexico City, Mexico, November 15, 2011.

Killing Candidates in Mexico. The PRD in the 1990s.

Hélène Combes3 June 20213 June 2021

Introduction The 2018 electoral process has been described as the most violent in the history of Mexico. According to records compiled by Estrategia Electoral, “between

Breve historia de la violencia electoral en México

Paul Gillingham2 June 20219 June 2021

Introducción En México, durante gran parte del siglo XX, los procesos electorales y la violencia estuvieron estrechamente vinculados. A medida que se aproximaban las contiendas

¿Es violenta la amapola en México?

23 May 202124 May 2021

Este informe es parte del Proyecto Amapola. Haga clic aquí para descubrir el Proyecto. Haga clic aquí para descubrir el resto de las entregas. Introducción

Oaxaca. La milpa en temporada de drogas.

Gabriel Tamariz19 May 202120 May 2021

Este artículo es el Capítulo n°5 de la Serie “La violencia toma lugar”. Haga clic aquí para descubrir el resto de la Serie. “Hacer milpa

Growing Maize and Illicit Drugs in Oaxaca, Mexico

Gabriel Tamariz19 May 202127 October 2022

This article is Chapter 5 of Noria MXAC “Violence Takes Place” Editorial Series. Click here to discover the rest of the Series. “Growing milpa is

Capítulo 7 – Etnografía de la humillación en la Sierra de Guerrero

Irene Álvarez Rodriguez21 April 202128 April 2021

Introducción Carlos Monsiváis decía que “el narcotráfico ha alterado trágicamente las comunidades campesinas […]. La siembra de mariguana y amapola ha sido fuente sistemática de

Violence and Avocado Capitalism in Michoacán, Mexico.

Alexander Curry17 March 202117 March 2021

This article is Chapter 4 of Noria MXAC “Violence Takes Place” Editorial Series. Click here to discover the rest of the Series. Introduction – Oro

Chapter 7 – Ethnography of Humiliation in the Sierra of Guerrero

Irene Álvarez Rodriguez7 March 202127 October 2022

This is the Chapter 7 of our Opium Project. Click here to know more about the project. Click here to go back to the Dossier’s

Lineamientos editoriales MXAC

To read this page in English, please click here.

Comité editorial

Dra. Cecilia Farfán-Mendez (Editora en jefe)
Dra. María Martinez Trujillo (Editora de nuestro blog “Animal Político”)
Dr. Carlos Pérez Ricart
Dr. Nathaniel Morris

Convocatoria y Lineamientos

La plataforma de Noria busca apoyar trabajos que permitan entender mejor las dinámicas de violencia en México y América Central, a partir de investigación cualitativa.

El programa Noria para México y América Central recibe de manera permanente propuestas de textos de divulgación científica en inglés o español para publicación en su sitio web.

-1- Los artículos deben tener un objeto de investigación claro, delimitado y de interés para el Programa Noria para México y América Central.

-2- Recomendamos a los y las potenciales autoras la lectura de nuestra agenda de investigación. Ahí encontrarán los ejes y aproximaciones que dan sentido al programa Noria para México y América Central.

-3- Los artículos pueden basarse (aunque no de manera exclusiva) en cualquiera de los tres ejes de investigación del programa Noria para México y América Central:

– Dinámicas de violencia, orden político y organizaciones criminales
– Migración, desplazamiento forzado y desapariciones
– Políticas públicas de seguridad, políticas de drogas y gobernanza.

-4- Pueden proponer la creación de una serie editorial (en cuyo caso, favor de contactar directamente al Comité Editorial).

-5- Los textos deben estar basados en investigación empírica y estar dirigidos al público general (favor de no enviar un artículo académico).

-6- La extensión no debe rebasar por ningún motivo las dos mil palabras con notas al pie incluidas (estilo Harvard). La bibliografía y referencias debe mantenerse al mínimo

-7- Los textos deben ser originales aunque pueden ser versiones más cortas y generales de otros textos publicados en revistas académicas. En este caso, se debe mencionar al momento de enviar su propuesta.

-8- Todos los artículos serán valorados, revisados y eventualmente aceptados a publicación por el Comité Editorial. De forma similar, el comité editorial podrá recomendar la traducción del texto al inglés o al español, según corresponda.

-9- La redacción de los textos no es remunerada.

-10- Las propuestas deben ser enviadas a la dirección electrónica: editorial-board-mxac@noria-research.com

-11- Además del texto, deberá incluirse, en archivo separado, el nombre del autor u autora, afiliación institucional (en caso de tenerse).

Escriba para nuestro blog en Animal Político

El Programa MXAC tiene un espacio de blog en el portal de Animal Político. Este espacio, en español, busca publicar columnas de opinión.

Las propuestas no pueden exceder 1,000 palabras.

Las propuestas deben ser enviadas a la dirección electrónica: editorial-board-mxac@noria-research.com

Además del texto, deberá incluirse, en archivo separado, el nombre del autor u autora, afiliación institucional (en caso de tenerse).

Siga descubriendo el Programa Noria para México y América Central.

Haga clic aquí

Setting the Table. The Licit Beginnings of Sinaloa’s Illicit Export Economy

6 December 202027 October 2022

This article is Chapter 3 of Noria MXAC “Violence Takes Place” Editorial Series. “Drug trafficking organizations in Sinaloa have their roots in opposition to land

“Now the Youngsters are Masters of the Opium Harvest”: Opium, Agriculture and Indigenous Identity in the Sierra of Nayarit

Nathaniel Morris20 September 202027 October 2022

This article is Chapter 2 of Noria MXAC “Violence Takes Place” Editorial Series. Introduction The first person to bring opium poppies to the Sierra of

Oilseeds and Slippery Slopes: Economy, Ecology, and Violence in coastal Guerrero, 1930-1970.

Jayson Maurice Porter14 September 202016 February 2021

This article is the First Chapter of Noria’s “Violence Takes Place” ongoing Series. It is part of our Mexico & Central America Program. To read

VIOLENCE TAKES PLACE SERIES

Land, Markets and Power in Rural Mexico

The Violence takes place series is edited by Jayson Maurice Porter, and co-edited by Alexander Aviña.

Three Core Ideas

Drug-trafficking and narco-related stories

Drug-trafficking and narco-related stories cannot be the only explanation for violence in rural Mexico: we need to re-politicize the debate.

"Rural People" are not all farmers

"Rural People" are not all farmers; and rurality is not a homogeneous category of analysis. We need to take geography, ethnic differences, gender issues, social classes, and ideologies into account.

Multiple dynamics of violence

Multiple dynamics of violence must be understood in the light of the relation between rural populations (including indigenous people), the State, and market forces.

Rationale

This series on violence in the Mexican countryside foregrounds local histories of the past and present. These insights help show how rural violence takes place in Mexico; how they are often overshadowed, underemphasized, or ignored entirely. In this perspective, local history and ecology are necessary for studying violence against and between the poor.

Far from the dominant, overarching narco-narratives, violence must be geographically and socially situated. This is why our analyses are based on grounded, local and empirical perspectives of rural Mexico.

Our work will analyze the relation between drug trafficking, violence and rural life in Mexico. As we will show throughout the different contributions, the distinction between licit and illicit crops is porous, just as the association of violence with drug trafficking is not always obvious. For the most part of the 20th century, in rural areas of Michoacán, Nayarit, Guerrero and Sinaloa, everyday conflicts in ranchos and villages often resulted in tragic outcomes. Such conflicts may be related to illegal activities, but they were also about land disputes, clashes between various factions, or vendettas seeking to right “honor offenses.”

In this respect, violence could be linked to drug trafficking, but it is not the only explanation or reason for it. Following that line of thought, the following series of studies aims to contribute to the debate over violence, rural areas and drug trafficking. We know that over the last years, Mexico has been affected by a terrible security crisis ; but we do not know much about the distribution of violence and its local manifestations.

In order to change this state of affairs, this series relies on ethnographical and historical work that shows that in various rural areas of Mexico the rupture between a supposedly “governable” country and one plagued with criminal violence does not make sense.

History and ethnography are key tools to further the debate, which, at present, seems to be dominated by analyses arguing that the causes for violence are easy to identify. We are highly skeptical of any analysis according to which violence can be understood by pointing to its results – characteristically, the control of a plaza or a drug route – that people can obtain solely by resorting to coercion. Such analyses forget that violence is part of social processes, with a defined timeframe. They dismiss the fact that the motives for acts of violence do not necessarily determine their results, and determine even less the way they are interpreted. Similarly, even if we were to admit that violence is produced by rational individuals who pursue specific interests, we would have to add that said interests are defined by historical and cultural backgrounds that need accounting for.

WHERE WE WORK

CHAPTERS

Mexico & Central America Program?

Click here.

Press inquiries and information about this series?

Please reach out to us at:

mxac@noria-research.com

Debunking the Wars: A Call for Local Understanding of Violence in Mexico & Central America

Mexico & Central America Program17 May 202017 February 2021

“If your pictures aren’t good enough, you aren’t close enough.” This famous quote by photographer Robert Capa could apply just as well to the way in which violence in Mexico and Central America is currently analyzed.

Semillas oleaginosas y pendientes resbaladizas: Economía, ecología y violencia en la costa de Guerrero (1930-1970)

Jayson Maurice Porter16 May 202011 February 2021

Este artículo es el Capítulo n°1 de la serie abierta “La violencia ocurre. Tierra, mercados y poder en el México rural”.Es parte del Programa Noria

Ruralidad, narcotráfico y violencia. Un modelo para armar.

Irene Álvarez Rodriguez16 May 20201 April 2021

Este artículo es la introducción a la serie “La violencia toma lugar. Tierra, mercados y poder en el México rural” Es parte del Programa Noria

“Ya los jóvenes son maestros pa’ la raya”: Amapola, agricultura e identidad indígena en la sierra de Nayarit

Nathaniel Morris16 May 202017 February 2021

Este artículo es el Capítulo n°2 de la serie “La violencia toma lugar. Tierra, mercados y poder en el México rural”. Introducción La primera persona

Mexico & Central America

Rationale

In the past 20 years, and in parallel to rising homicide rates in the region, we have witnessed an explosion in writing on violence in Mexico & Central America. Yet, a large proportion of this academic, journalistic and ‘expert’ work, as well as national and regional security policies, are characterized by the distance – both physical and analytical – that they maintain from the local realities that affect the region.

Because of this distance, as well as a strong normative stance on ‘criminal violence’, one can observe a lack of understanding around the local dynamics of security, governance and (dis)order.

A Call for Local Understanding
of Violence in Mexico
& Central America

Read our MXAC Editorial Guidelines

PROJECTS

The Mexico Opium Project

Elections and Violence in Mexico

Violence Takes
Place