Description:

Crime fiction in Mexico did not follow all the rules of the genre, but it allowed Mexican readers and writers to deal with the problem of impunity in imaginative ways. In these stories, novels and a films truth did not come from the detective, and the murderer was often the hero. Although they have been largely ignored by critics, historians and librarians, they provide insights into the impact of crime and police corruption on everyday life.

Bio:

Pablo Piccato (B.A. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 1989; Ph.D. University of Texas at Austin, 1997) is professor at the Department of History, Columbia University. His research and teaching focus on modern Mexico, particularly on crime, politics, and culture. Among books and articles published in the US and Latin America, his work includes City of Suspects: Crime in Mexico City, 1900-1931 (2001), Actores, espacios y debates en la historia de la esfera pública en la ciudad de México (2005, coedited with Cristina Sacristán), True Stories of Crime in Modern Mexico (2009, coedited with Robert Buffington), The Tyranny of Opinion: Honor in the Construction of the Mexican Public Spherre (2010). Among his articles he has published in Social History 35:2 (2010): “Public sphere in Latin America: A map of the historiography” and, in Past and Present 223:1 (2014), “Murders of Nota Roja: Truth and Justice in Mexican Crime News.” He is working on poet Salvador Díaz Mirón, and on Mexican civil society’s responses to crime.

Sponsored by the Latin American and Caribbean Studies Program. Co-sponsored by the Department of Spanish and Portuguese

*The Latin American and Caribbean Studies Spring quarter event series is: Violence in Latin America: Culture and History. We hope you will join us at other events this quarter!