
Making a Killing
Femicide, Free Trade, and La Frontera
University of Texas Press
Published on 1. November 2010
Book
Hardback
328 pages
978-0-292-72277-4 (ISBN)
Description
Since 1993, more than five hundred women and girls have been murdered in Ciudad Juarez across the border from El Paso, Texas. At least a third have been sexually violated and mutilated as well. Thousands more have been reported missing and remain unaccounted for. The crimes have been poorly investigated and have gone unpunished and unresolved by Mexican authorities, thus creating an epidemic of misogynist violence on an increasingly globalized U.S.-Mexico border. This book, the first anthology to focus exclusively on the Juarez femicides, as the crimes have come to be known, compiles several different scholarly "interventions" from diverse perspectives, including feminism, Marxism, critical race theory, semiotics, and textual analysis. Editor Alicia Gaspar de Alba shapes a multidisciplinary analytical framework for considering the interconnections between gender, violence, and the U.S.-Mexico border. The essays examine the social and cultural conditions that have led to the heinous victimization of women on the border-from globalization, free trade agreements, exploitative maquiladora working conditions, and border politics, to the sexist attitudes that pervade the social discourse about the victims. The book also explores the evolving social movement that has been created by NGOs, mothers' organizing efforts, and other grassroots forms of activism related to the crimes. Contributors include U.S. and Mexican scholars and activists, as well as personal testimonies of two mothers of femicide victims.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Austin, TX
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Illustrations
40 b&w photos, 1 figure, 3 tables
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 25 mm
Weight
652 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-292-72277-4 (9780292722774)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Alicia Gaspar de Alba, a native of the El Paso/Juarez border, is Professor and Chair of the Cesar Chavez Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies at UCLA. She has published eight other books, among them three historical novels, two collections of poetry,
Content
AcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Feminicidio: The "Black Legend" of the Border Alicia Gaspar de Alba and Georgina GuzmanPart One. Interventions1. Accountability for Murder in the Maquiladoras: Linking Corporate Indifference to Gender Violence at the U.S.-Mexico Border Elvia R. Arriola2. Poor Brown Female: The Miller's Compensation for "Free" Trade Alicia Gaspar de Alba3. Ghost Dance in Ciudad Juarez at the End/Beginning of the Millennium Maria Socorro Tabuenca Cordoba4. Gender, Order, and Femicide: Reading the Popular Culture of Murder in Ciudad Juarez Steven S. Volk and Marian E. SchlotterbeckPart Two. !Ni Una Mas!5. Binational Civic Action for Accountability: Antiviolence Organizing in Ciudad Juarez/El Paso Kathleen Staudt and Irasema Coronado6. The Suffering of the Other Julia E. Monarrez-Fragoso7. The V-Day March in Mexico: Appropriation and Misuse of Local Women's Activism Clara E. Rojas8. Femicide, Mother-Activism, and the Geography of Protest in Northern Mexico Melissa W. WrightPart Three. Testimonios9. "The Morgue Was Really from the Dark Ages": Insights from a Forensic Psychologist Candice Skrapec10."We'll See Who Wins" Eva Arce11. "The Government Has Tried to Divide Us"Paula Flores12. Las Hijas de Juarez: Not an Urban Legend Rigo MaldonadoAfterword: Goddess Murder and Gynocide in Ciudad Juarez Jane CaputiAppendix A: Selected Binational Timeline of the Juarez FemicidesAppendix B: The Juarez Femicides in Print, Film, and Music: A Partial ListNotes on ContributorsIndexReprints and Permissions