http://cascade.uoregon.edu/spring2013/features/feature-4/dining-with-the-devil/
Cascade [University
of Oregon College of Arts
and Sciences]
Spring 2013
‘Narco narratives’
may take the edge off fear -- while expressing hostility toward the privileged
By Lisa Raleigh
One of the stories
goes like this: The setting is an upscale restaurant. Patrons are enjoying
their dinner when a thuggish group of men bursts in. Brandishing automatic
weapons, they demand everyone’s cell phones, purses and wallets. Things do not
look good.
But it’s not the
potential massacre it seems. Take it easy, the men say. El Chapo merely wishes
to have a meal here -- just like an ordinary person. Just like you. Go about
your business; we will return your personal items when the boss has finished
his supper. By the way, the boss has also paid for all of your meals.
There’s an
uncertain sigh of relief. Maybe el Chapo, the notorious head of the Sinoloa
cartel, is not the ruthless butcher he is reputed to be.
Assistant professor
Claudia Holguín Mendoza heard this story time and again when she was conducting
ethnographic research in her hometown of Juárez, the Mexican border city
infamous for narco violence in the streets.
Her interview
subjects would share this story in hushed tones, apparently fearing they might
be overheard by narco spies. They claimed to have heard this story from someone
who was actually in the restaurant that night. Or from someone who heard it
from someone who was there. And so on. [...]
[See
Claudia Holguín Mendoza, "Dining with the Devil: Identity Formations in Juarez, Mexico."
Identities: Global Studies in Culture and
Power, 18:415-436, 2011.]