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" Violence, Cultural Production, and Resilience as Resistance: Community Organizing and Cultural Activism in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico "
Golden, Anna Hundt
Medina, Ruben
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Latin Dissertation
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English
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| Record Number
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1051520
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| Doc. No
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TL50637
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| Main Entry
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Golden, Anna Hundt
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| Title & Author
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Violence, Cultural Production, and Resilience as Resistance: Community Organizing and Cultural Activism in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico\ Golden, Anna HundtMedina, Ruben
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| College
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The University of Wisconsin - Madison
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| Date
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2019
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| Degree
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Ph.D.
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2019
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| Note
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230 p.
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| Abstract
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From 2008 to 2013, Ciudad Juárez, Mexico was militarized which resulted in the city earning the title of “the murder capital of the world” in the international journalism community. During this time, civil society was redefined by the powers of impunity, violence, the maquila, and the narcoeconomy. In the context of Juárez, political corruption, the export manufacturing sector, and narcotraficantes have created a perfect storm that has normalized the exploitation of people and the presence of ubiquitous violence. This violence rules the city and has come to profoundly and negatively impact civil society (by “civil society” I refer to all institutions and aspects of human life that operate in the interest of members of the community that are State responsibilities); Domínguez Ruvalcaba and Ravelo Blancas (2011) assert that the concept of citizenship has gone through an emptying process (“una ciudad en proceso de vaciamiento de la ciudadanía” (Ruvalcaba and Ravelo Blancas, 2011, p.16)) caused by neoliberal processes and the country´s narcoeconomy. The culture of fear that rules Juárez stems from the extreme violence that in itself is a form of power that is impossible to overthrow, and to which all are subject, even the ruling class. This creates a form of impotent citizenship, and in this violent context, human beings are rendered powerless against it (Ruvalcaba and Ravelo Blancas, 2011). During the years of military occupation (and in the post-militarization period), crime and violence have inspired works of community collective action, and the ways in which agency is sought and obtained have shifted in this geographic space that is defined by violence, political corruption, and unregulated foreign capital. Cultural activism, community organizing, and works of cultural production serve as mechanisms of resilience in the community, and the context of Ciudad Juárez has created the conditions for a particular cultural reality in which activists seek out ways to claim subjectivity and demonstrate resistance by defying the city´s culture of fear and submission as they assume social responsibilities that have been abandoned by the State. The findings of this study reveal the concept of “resilience as resistance,” a form of civic engagement in this post-conflict space through which small, everyday acts of rebuilding community and civil society hold significant symbolic power and serve as forms of resistance. This study connects an individual´s resilience and agency to be a community activist and the collective forms of cultural production that are necessary to rebuild civil society in Ciudad Juárez.
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| Descriptor
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Latin American Studies
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Social research
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Medina, Ruben
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The University of Wisconsin - Madison
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