Tag: violence

• Sicario 2: this time there are no rules (or redeeming features)

  Maybe I’m just looking for excuses to toddle off to the movies when I should be deep in the data, but there have been a number of seemingly research-relevant films screening in the cinemas of Mexico City lately. I saw Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri not long after arriving here, which left me thinking all the […]

  philipljohnson

  July 14, 2018

  Books & films

  film, Mexico, terrorism, violence

• The deaths behind the data

  I had not thought death had undone so many. T.S.Eliot For the first three months of my field research, I pored over online newspaper archives, adding data to a growing spreadsheet of narco-messages (narcomensajes or narcomantas). I developed a habit, and spent two hours almost every morning adding data points, before returning for at least […]

  philipljohnson

  June 9, 2018

  Research

  field work, media, narco-messages, T.S. Eliot, violence

• Light reading turned heavy

  I brought one book with me, on my semester of research in Mexico City. This was an act of severe self-discipline, and resulted in me leaving a couple of half-read volumes on my shelf in Brooklyn. The book that made the cut was Francisco Goldman’s The Interior Circuit: A Mexico City Chronicle. Goldman splits his time […]

  philipljohnson

  May 30, 2018

  Books & films

  Ayotzinapa, books, Enrique Peña Nieto, Francisco Goldman, Mexico, Mexico City, Miguel Ángel Mancera, violence

• The perfect source, and its difficulties

  A core part of my research involves the collection of data on the narcomensajes that have been appearing in Mexico since about 2006. Ideally, that data includes information about where and when the messages appear, contextual information such as whether the messages appear at a crime scene, and a full transcription of each message. There are […]

  philipljohnson

  March 19, 2018

  Research

  media, Mexico, Monterrey, narco-messages, violence

• Faces and masks

  A recurring concern in most of my research is the relationship between legitimacy and violence. How do armed groups justify their violence? If every armed group – including state agencies – depends upon a degree of local support, why do so many groups engage in risky, potentially costly behaviour, by targeting or preying on civilians? […]

  philipljohnson

  December 28, 2017

  Research

  Allen Feldman, concepts, counter/insurgency, face/mask, Judith Butler, Mexico, Northern Ireland, violence