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At the turn of the twentieth century, many observers considered suicide to be a worldwide social problem that had reached epidemic proportions. In Mexico City, violent deaths in public spaces were commonplace in a city undergoing rapid modernization. Crime rates mounted, corpses piled up in the morgue, and the media reported on sensational cases of murder and suicide. More troublesome still, a compelling death wish appeared to grip women and youth. Drawing on a range of sources from judicial records to the popular press, Death in the City investigates the cultural meanings of self-destruction in modern Mexico. The author examines responses to suicide and death and disproves the long-held belief that Mexicans possess a cavalier attitude toward suffering.
Price: $29.95
Pages: 272
Publisher: University of California Press
Imprint: University of California Press
Series: Violence in Latin American History
Publication Date:
11 April 2017
Trim Size: 9.00 X 6.00 in
ISBN: 9780520290327
Format: Paperback
BISACs:
"Thorough, well researched, methodologically appealing, and with a clear narrative line... an excellent addition to the literature on death and crime in Mexico City and an obligatory reference for scholars interested in comparative analyses across regions"
Kathryn A. Sloan is Associate Dean of Fine Arts and Humanities in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Arkansas. She is the author of Runaway Daughters: Seduction, Elopement, and Honor in Nineteenth-Century Mexico and Women’s Roles in Latin America and the Caribbean.
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1 • A Social History of Suicide in Mexico City, 1900–1930
2 • From Corpse to Cadaver: Suicide and the Forensic Gaze
3 • Media, Moral Panic, and Youth Suicide
4 • The Modern Disease: Medical Meanings and Approaches to Suicide
5 • Death in the City: Suicide and Public Space
6 • Stains of Blood: Death, Vernacular Mourning, and Suicide
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1 • A Social History of Suicide in Mexico City, 1900–1930
2 • From Corpse to Cadaver: Suicide and the Forensic Gaze
3 • Media, Moral Panic, and Youth Suicide
4 • The Modern Disease: Medical Meanings and Approaches to Suicide
5 • Death in the City: Suicide and Public Space
6 • Stains of Blood: Death, Vernacular Mourning, and Suicide
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index