Description
Book SynopsisMexico's Rebellious Afterlives: Armed Uprisings and Activism in the Narco War examines nonviolent activism and armed uprisings in the narco war. Olof Kjell Oscar Ohlson argues that relatives of Mexico’s many victims of violence, often without earlier experiences of human rights advocacy, become activists protesting violence or form self-armed citizens’ police to resist state, capitalist, and criminal violence. Ohlson develops innovative theories on political afterlives and rituals of rebellion, demonstrating how political street protests transform over time to become annual commemorative events at new memorial sites for the disappeared.
Trade ReviewMexico's Rebellious Afterlives: Armed Uprisings and Activism in the Narco War constructs important new categories in the ongoing discussions of necropolitics. Corporate necropower is discussed in the book as death to citizens by corporations rather than through the state. Subversive necropower is detailed as a form of counter-power of resistance, particularly in the context of Mexico’s ‘disappeared.’ On the Day of the Dead, the ‘disappeared’ are remembered and given a collective voice. In this book, the dead speak, resist, and inspire to continue fighting against oppressive systems.
-- Obed Frausto, Ball State University
Mexico is a country of victims. Olof Ohlson’s book is a sympathetic story about those who disappear. Fortunately, he has a fresh approach: investigating how the victims’ ‘families can try to bring about societal change also when facing the fiercest of challenges.’ This book is about the human capacity to transform grieving with struggling, and it is the best possible homage to the victims of the Mexican drug wars.
-- Sergio Aguayo, El Colegio de México
Mexico's Rebellious Afterlives: Armed Uprisings and Activism in the Narco War is a rigorous and exciting ethnography that demonstrates how extractivist and criminal economies are powerfully contested by the victimized population, where communitarian morale and collective affections propel unique forms of politics.
-- Hector Dominguez-Ruvalcaba, The University of Texas at Austin
Table of ContentsIntroduction: Political Ethnography as a Form of Engagement
Part I Direct and Structural Rebellion
Chapter 1: Who Owns the Dead?
Chapter 2: The People Say, the Government Obey
Chapter 3: Protest Caravans
Chapter 4: Even if it’s the Last Thing I’ll Do
Part II Rebellious Afterlives (as Cultural Rebellion)
Chapter 5: Mexico’s Rebellious Dead
Chapter 6: The Necrographies at Estela de Luz
Conclusion: The Rebellious Subject
