Silvana Mandolessi - Disappearances in Mexico: From the Dirty War to the War on Drugs

This volume presents an interdisciplinary analysis of the practice of disappearances in Mexico, from the period of the so-called dirty war to the current crisis of disappearances associated with the countrys war on drugs, during which more than 80,000 people have disappeared. The volume brings together contributions by distinguished scholars from Mexico, Argentina and Europe, who focus their chapters on four broad axes of enquiry. In Part I, chapters examine the phenomenon of disappearances in its historical and present-day forms, and the struggles for memory around the disappeared in Mexico with reference to Argentina. Part II addresses the political dimensions of disappearances, focusing on the specificities that this practice acquires in the context of the counterinsurgency struggle of the 1970s and the so-called war on drugs. The third section situates the issue within the framework of human rights law by examining the conceptual and legal aspects of disappearances. The final chapters explore the social movement of the relatives of the disappeared, showing how their search for disappeared loved ones involves bodily and affective experiences as well as knowledge production. The volume thus aims to further our understanding of the crisis of disappearances in Mexico without, however, losing sight of the historic origins of the phenomenon.

Silvana Mandolessi is associate professor of Cultural Studies at KU Leuven, Belgium and Principal Investigator of the ERC project Digital Memories.

Katia Olalde is associate professor at the Art History Department, Universidad Nacional Autnoma de Mxico (UNAM-ENES Morelia).

The Europa Country Perspectives series, from Routledge, examines a wide range of contemporary political, economic, developmental and social issues from areas around the world. Complementing the Europa Regional Surveys of the World series, Europa Country Perspectives is a valuable resource for academics, students, researchers, policymakers, business people and anyone with an interest in current world affairs.

While the Europa World Year Book and its associated Regional Surveys inform on and analyse contemporary economic, political and social developments at the national and regional level, Country Perspectives provide indepth, country-specific volumes written or edited by specialists in their field, delving into a countrys particular situation. Volumes in the series are not constrained by any particular template, but may explore a countrys recent political, economic, international relations, social, defence, or other issues in order to increase understanding.

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Richard Gillespie

The Taiwan Issue

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Edited by Benjamin Schreer and Andrew T. H. Tan

Facets of Security in the United Arab Emirates

Edited by William Guraiche and Kristian Alexander

Disappearances in Mexico

From the Dirty War to the War on Drugs

Edited by Silvana Mandolessi and Katia Olalde

For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/Europa-Country-Perspectives/book-series/ECP.

Cover image:

Title: Huellas de la Memoria (Footprints of Memory)

Year: 2015

Photograph: Guillermo Reynoso Lpez

The editors are grateful to Alfredo Lpez Casanova and the Huellas de la Memoria Collective for sharing this image and for helping the editors get the permission to reprint it on the books cover.

First published 2022

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2022 selection and editorial matter, Silvana Mandolessi and Katia Olalde; individual chapters, the contributors

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ISBN: 978-0-367-77055-6 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-1-032-19661-9 (pbk)

ISBN: 978-1-003-16961-1 (ebk)

DOI: 10.4324/9781003169611

Silvana Mandolessi is associate professor of Cultural Studies at KU Leuven, Belgium, and Principal Investigator of the ERC project Digital Memories.

Katia Olalde is associate professor at the Art History Department, Universidad Nacional Autnoma de Mxico (UNAM-ENES Morelia).

Eugenia Allier Montao is researcher at the Institute of Social Research (IIS), Universidad Nacional Autnoma de Mxico (UNAM), Mexico.

Karina Ansolabehere is researcher at the Institute of Legal Research of UNAM and FLACSO-Mexico and Principal researcher of the Observatory on Disappearance and Impunity in Mexico.

Pilar Calveiro is Professor at the Universidad Autnoma de la Ciudad de Mxico (UACM) and member of the Sistema Nacional de Investigadores, Mxico.

Emilio Crenzel is researcher at the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET) and Professor of the University of Buenos Aires (UBA), Argentina.

Mara De Vecchi Gerli is the Right to Truth Coordinator at ARTICLE 19 Mexico and Central America Office and is based in Mexico City, Mexico.

Juan Sebastin Granada-Cardona, is postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Social Research (IIS), Universidad Nacional Autnoma de Mxico (UNAM), Mexico.

Lene Guercke is doctoral researcher in Law at KU Leuven, Belgium.

Rainer Huhle holds a PhD in Political Science. He teaches Transitional Justice at the Centre for Human Rights at the University of Erlangen-Nrnberg. From 20112019 he served as a member of the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances where he was a rapporteur drafting the Guiding Principles for the search for disappeared persons.

Alvaro Martos is Research Coordinator at the Observatory on Disappearance and Impunity in Mexico.

Carolina Robledo Silvestre is researcher and professor at the Centre for Research and Advanced Studies in Social Anthropology (CIESAS) in Mexico City, Mexico, and coordinator of the Ethnographic Observatory of Violences.

Jorge Verstegui Gonzlez is a lawyer and co-founder of Fuerzas Unidas por Nuestros Desaparecidos en Coahuila (FUUNDEC). He was part of the team in charge of the technical drafting process of the General Law on Forced Disappearance of Persons.