
The Two Faces of Fear
Violence and Inequality in the Mexican Metropolis
Ana Villarreal(Author)
Oxford University Press Inc
Published on 29. August 2024
Book
Paperback/Softback
192 pages
978-0-19-768801-4 (ISBN)
Description
Over the past two decades, increased criminal and state violence has profoundly transformed everyday life in Mexico. In The Two Faces of Fear, Ana Villarreal draws on two years of qualitative fieldwork conducted during a major turf war in Monterrey, Mexico to trace the far-reaching impact of fear and violence on social ties, daily practices, and everyday spaces. Villarreal brings two seemingly contradictory faces of fear into focus--its ability to both isolate and concentrate people and resources, deepening inequality. While all residents of one of Mexico's largest metropolises confronted new threats, the most privileged leveraged vastly unequal resources to spatially concentrate and defend one municipality more fiercely than the rest. Within this defended city, business, nightlife, and public space thrived at the expense of the greater metropolis. The book puts forth a new approach to the study of emotion and provides tangible evidence of how quickly fear worsens inequality beyond Mexico and the "war on drugs."
Reviews / Votes
Ana Villarreal expertly theorizes how fear and danger transform daily routines, simultaneously isolating and regrouping people, through acutely class-determined strategies. This moving ethnography of Monterrey, a wealthy and unequal city that many thought immune to violence, adds crucial nuance and depth to our understanding of the relations between violence, fear, and inequality. * Angelica Duran-Martinez, author of The Politics of Drug Violence * An outstanding ethnography of how the affluent use their resources to safeguard themselves from extreme violence, contributing to the perpetuation of class, race, and gender privilege. For a comprehensive understanding of fear and its impact on urban life, this is a must-read. * Hugo Ceron-Anaya, author of Privilege at Play * This elegant volume offers a rare insider perspective on elite fear of violence, vividly illustrating how it is fostering new forms of metropolitan isolation, concentration, and exclusion in 21st century Mexico. This is essential reading for anybody wanting to understand contemporary urban dynamics in Latin America and elsewhere. * Dennis Rodgers, Geneva Graduate Institute * Ana Villarreal offers a powerful, perceptive, and conceptually persuasive account on the impact of fear in people's everyday lives in contexts of chronic insecurity and violence. * Gema Kloppe-Santamaria, ReVista * A methodological appendix richly describes fieldwork amid war. In concluding that fear exacerbates race and class inequalities, Villarreal makes fear more central than it has been in the subfield of the sociology of emotions. She challenges micro approaches to fear by linking the micro and the macro with everyday logistics that impact urban structures. Focusing on the Mexican turf war brings warranted sociological attention south of the US. Examining the logistics of fear contributes to social scientific treatments of the drug war. * A. C. S. Swords, CHOICE * Thanks to its clear writing, compelling qualitative data, and attention to the realm of the affectiveA and lived experience, The Two Faces of Fear is both accessible and powerful. The book is a must read for students and scholars of urban studies, fear and violence, inequalities, and emotions * Rebecca Hanson, Sociology of Race and Ethnicity * In the beginning, we thought the movement for peace and justice [in Mexico] would transcend class differences and unify victims in a common front. Ana Villarreal's book confronts us with a reality that is far more complex, urging us to consider under what conditions, both social and symbolic, can some seek security without leading to the victimization of others. * Natalia Mendoza, Nexos * The Two Faces of Fear offers compelling insight into how people respond to increased violence and fear. Villareal's ability to link these responses to greater class, racial, and spatial inequalities constitutes a significant contribution to the study of urban Latin America at a time of heightened insecurity and societal disruption. * Francis Adams, European Review of Latin American and Caribbean Studies *More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Illustrations
8 b/w photographs
Dimensions
Height: 239 mm
Width: 157 mm
Thickness: 23 mm
Weight
295 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-768801-4 (9780197688014)
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
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
05/2024
Oxford University Press Inc
€79.23
Shipment within 15-20 days

E-Book
04/2024
OUP eBook
€21.99
Available for download

E-Book
04/2024
OUP eBook
€21.99
Available for download
Person
Ana Villarreal is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Boston University. Her main areas of research, writing and teaching are urban inequality, emotions, and violence. Her work has appeared in Sociological Theory, Emotions and Society, City & Community, among other venues.
Author
Assistant Professor of SociologyAssistant Professor of Sociology, Boston University
Content
Chapter 1: Fear as an Everyday Problem
Chapter 2: Ubiquitous Violence
Chapter 3: The Logistics of Fear
Chapter 4: Defending San Pedro
Chapter 5: Restructuring Nightlife
Chapter 6: An Oasis from War
Chapter 7: Fear and Inequality at the Onset of Crises
Appendix: Gaining Distance
Acknowledgments
References
Index
Chapter 2: Ubiquitous Violence
Chapter 3: The Logistics of Fear
Chapter 4: Defending San Pedro
Chapter 5: Restructuring Nightlife
Chapter 6: An Oasis from War
Chapter 7: Fear and Inequality at the Onset of Crises
Appendix: Gaining Distance
Acknowledgments
References
Index