tag:theconversation.com,2011:/fr/topics/mexico-1827/articles
Mexico – The Conversation
2024-03-27T17:07:01Z
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/226558
2024-03-27T17:07:01Z
2024-03-27T17:07:01Z
The total solar eclipse in North America could help shed light on a persistent puzzle about the Sun
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584141/original/file-20240325-24-ot473c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption"></span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/totality-during-2023-australian-total-solar-2344355767">aeonWAVE / Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/eclipses/types/#hds-sidebar-nav-1">total solar eclipse</a> takes place on <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/eclipses/future-eclipses/eclipse-2024/">April 8 across North America</a>. These events occur when the Moon passes between the Sun and Earth, completely blocking the Sun’s face. This plunges observers into a darkness similar to dawn or dusk.</p>
<p>During the upcoming eclipse, the path of totality, where observers experience the darkest part of the Moon’s shadow (the umbra), crosses Mexico, arcing north-east through Texas, the Midwest and briefly entering Canada before ending in Maine.</p>
<p>Total solar eclipses occur roughly <a href="https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/solar-eclipse-guide.html">every 18 months at some location on Earth</a>. The last total solar eclipse that crossed the US took place on August 21 2017. </p>
<p>An international team of scientists, led by Aberystwyth University, will be conducting experiments from <a href="https://www.fox4news.com/news/2024-eclipse-dallas-crowds-traffic">near Dallas</a>, at a location in the path of totality. The team consists of PhD students and researchers from Aberystwyth University, Nasa Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, and Caltech (California Institute of Technology) in Pasadena. </p>
<p>There is valuable science to be done during eclipses that is comparable to or better than what we can achieve via space-based missions. Our experiments may also shed light on a longstanding puzzle about the outermost part of the Sun’s atmosphere – its corona.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Eclipse shadow" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584503/original/file-20240326-18-9yqs13.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584503/original/file-20240326-18-9yqs13.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584503/original/file-20240326-18-9yqs13.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584503/original/file-20240326-18-9yqs13.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584503/original/file-20240326-18-9yqs13.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584503/original/file-20240326-18-9yqs13.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584503/original/file-20240326-18-9yqs13.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The path of eclipse totality passes through Mexico, the US and Canada.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/5186/">NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio</a></span>
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<p>The Sun’s intense light is blocked by the Moon during a total solar eclipse. This means that we can observe the <a href="https://solarscience.msfc.nasa.gov/corona.shtml">Sun’s faint corona</a> with incredible clarity, from distances very close to the Sun, out to several solar radii. One radius is the distance equivalent to half the Sun’s diameter, about 696,000km (432,000 miles).</p>
<p>Measuring the corona is extremely difficult without an eclipse. It requires a special telescope <a href="https://www.space.com/what-is-a-coronagraph.html">called a coronagraph</a> that is designed to block out direct light from the Sun. This allows fainter light from the corona to be resolved. The clarity of eclipse measurements surpasses even coronagraphs based in space.</p>
<p>We can also observe the corona on a relatively small budget, compared to, for example, spacecraft missions. A persistent puzzle about the corona is the observation <a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781119815600.ch2">that it is much hotter</a> than the photosphere (the visible surface of the Sun). As we move away from a hot object, the surrounding temperature should decrease, not increase. How the corona is heated to such high temperatures is one question we will investigate.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Solar eclipse." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584507/original/file-20240326-20-xairh2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584507/original/file-20240326-20-xairh2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584507/original/file-20240326-20-xairh2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584507/original/file-20240326-20-xairh2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584507/original/file-20240326-20-xairh2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584507/original/file-20240326-20-xairh2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584507/original/file-20240326-20-xairh2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/solar-eclipse-diagram-1146598682">Andramin / Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>We have two main scientific instruments. The first of these is Cip (coronal imaging polarimeter). Cip is also the Welsh word for “glance”, or “quick look”. The instrument takes images of the Sun’s corona with a polariser. </p>
<p>The light we want to measure from the corona is highly polarised, which means it is made up of waves that vibrate in a single geometric plane. A polariser is a filter that lets light with a particular polarisation pass through it, while blocking light with other polarisations. </p>
<p>The Cip images will allow us to measure fundamental properties of the corona, such as its density. It will also shed light on phenomena such as the solar wind. This is a stream of sub-atomic particles in the form of plasma – superheated matter – flowing continuously outward from the Sun. Cip could help us identify sources in the Sun’s atmosphere for certain solar wind streams.</p>
<p>Direct measurements of the magnetic field in the Sun’s atmosphere are difficult. But the eclipse data should allow us to study its fine-scale structure and trace the field’s direction. We’ll be able to see how far magnetic structures called large “closed” magnetic loops extend from the Sun. This in turn will give us information about large-scale magnetic conditions in the corona.</p>
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<img alt="Coronal loops." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584489/original/file-20240326-24-zlpsmc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584489/original/file-20240326-24-zlpsmc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584489/original/file-20240326-24-zlpsmc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584489/original/file-20240326-24-zlpsmc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584489/original/file-20240326-24-zlpsmc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=555&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584489/original/file-20240326-24-zlpsmc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=555&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584489/original/file-20240326-24-zlpsmc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=555&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Coronal loops are found around sunspots and in active regions of the Sun.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/coronal-loops-an-active-region-of-sun/">NASA/Solar Dynamics Observatory</a></span>
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<p>The second instrument is Chils (coronal high-resolution line spectrometer). It collects high-resolution spectra, where light is separated into its component colours. Here, we are looking for a particular spectral signature of iron emitted from the corona. </p>
<p>It comprises three spectral lines, where light is emitted or absorbed in a narrow frequency range. These are each generated at a different range of temperatures (in the millions of degrees), so their relative brightness tells us about the coronal temperature in different regions. </p>
<p>Mapping the corona’s temperature informs advanced, computer-based models of its behaviour. These models must include mechanisms for how the coronal plasma is heated to such high temperatures. Such mechanisms might include the conversion of magnetic waves to thermal plasma energy, for example. If we show that some regions are hotter than others, this can be replicated in models. </p>
<p>This year’s eclipse also occurs during a time of heightened solar activity, so we could observe a <a href="https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/phenomena/coronal-mass-ejections">coronal mass ejection (CME)</a>. These are huge clouds of magnetised plasma that are ejected from the Sun’s atmosphere into space. They can affect infrastructure near Earth, causing problems for vital satellites. </p>
<p>Many aspects of CMEs are poorly understood, including their early evolution near the Sun. Spectral information on CMEs will allow us to gain information on their thermodynamics, and their velocity and expansion near the Sun.</p>
<p>Our eclipse instruments have recently been proposed for a space mission called <a href="https://www.surrey.ac.uk/research-projects/feasibility-study-moon-enabled-sun-occultation-mission-mesom">Moon-enabled solar occultation mission (Mesom)</a>. The plan is to orbit the Moon to gain more frequent and extended eclipse observations. It is being planned as a UK Space Agency mission involving several countries, but led by University College London, the University of Surrey and Aberystwyth University.</p>
<p>We will also have an advanced commercial 360-degree camera to collect video of the April 8 eclipse and the observing site. The video is valuable for public outreach events, where we highlight the work we do, and helps to generate public interest in our local star, the Sun.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/226558/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Huw Morgan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
The eclipse will allow scientists to get rare measurements of the Sun’s atmosphere.
Huw Morgan, Reader in Physical Sciences, Aberystwyth University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/225524
2024-03-21T17:53:21Z
2024-03-21T17:53:21Z
Whether it’s Trump or Biden as president, U.S. foreign policy endangers the world
<p>Many observers of American politics are understandably terrified at the prospect of Donald Trump being re-elected president of the United States in November.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2022/11/9/has-us-democracy-failed-for-good">The U.S.</a> is already showing signs of a <a href="https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2018/democracy-crisis">failed democracy</a>. <a href="https://www.citizen.org/news/twelve-years-since-citizens-united-big-money-corruption-keeps-getting-worse/">Its government</a> <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2023/9/28/corruption-is-as-american-as-apple-pie">and politics</a> <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/01/us/politics/government-dysfunction-normal.html">are often dysfunctional</a> and plagued <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/01/28/report-transparency-international-corruption-worst-decade-united-states/">with corruption</a>. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/canada-should-be-preparing-for-the-end-of-american-democracy-176930">Canada should be preparing for the end of American democracy</a>
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<p>A Trump victory would raise fears of a new level of decline into <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/20/us/politics/trump-rhetoric-fascism.html">fascist authoritarianism</a>. However, a second Trump presidency would not necessarily implement a foreign policy any more destructive than what is normal for the U.S. </p>
<h2>Violence part of U.S. foreign policy</h2>
<p>Since the start of the 21st century, the U.S. has unleashed enormous violence and instability on the global stage. This is a feature of American foreign policy, regardless of who’s president. </p>
<p>In 2001, in response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the U.S. launched its “war on terror.” It invaded and <a href="https://theconversation.com/by-not-investigating-the-u-s-for-war-crimes-the-international-criminal-court-shows-colonialism-still-thrives-in-international-law-115269">occupied Afghanistan</a>, then illegally invaded and occupied Iraq. </p>
<p>These actions <a href="https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/">caused the deaths of 4.6 million people over the next 20 years, destabilized the Middle East and caused massive refugee migrations</a>. </p>
<p>In 2007-2008, <a href="https://www.economicsobservatory.com/why-did-the-global-financial-crisis-of-2007-09-happen">the under-regulated U.S. economy caused a global financial crisis</a>. The <a href="https://www.imf.org/en/Blogs/Articles/2018/10/03/blog-lasting-effects-the-global-economic-recovery-10-years-after-the-crisis">associated political and economic fallout</a> <a href="https://hbr.org/2018/09/the-social-and-political-costs-of-the-financial-crisis-10-years-later">continues to resonate</a>. </p>
<p>In 2011, <a href="https://www.globalvillagespace.com/consequences-of-us-nato-military-intervention-in-libya/">the U.S. and its</a> <a href="https://www.cato.org/commentary/how-nato-pushed-us-libya-fiasco">NATO allies intervened in Libya</a>, <a href="https://responsiblestatecraft.org/libya-floods-nato/">collapsing that state, destabilizing northern Africa</a> and creating more refugees. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/11/opinion/nato-summit-vilnius-europe.html">The U.S. tried to</a> <a href="https://harpers.org/archive/2023/06/why-are-we-in-ukraine/">consolidate its dominance in Europe by expanding NATO</a>, despite Russia <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/feb/28/nato-expansion-war-russia-ukraine">warning against this for decades</a>. This strategy played a role in the Russia-Ukraine war in 2014 and the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. </p>
<p>President Joe Biden’s administration <a href="https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/europpblog/2022/03/30/why-the-us-and-nato-have-long-wanted-russia-to-attack-ukraine/">has been accused both of helping to provoke the war</a> in the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/04/25/russia-weakened-lloyd-austin-ukraine-visit/">hopes of permanently weakening Russia</a> and <a href="https://www.theamericanconservative.com/why-peace-talks-but-no-peace/">of resisting peace negotiations</a>.</p>
<p>Today, <a href="https://time.com/6695261/ukraine-forever-war-danger/">Ukraine appears to stand on the verge of defeat</a> and territorial division, and U.S. Congress <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/01/us-congress-support-ukraine-war/677256/">seems set to abandon it.</a></p>
<h2>Fuelling global tensions</h2>
<p>The U.S. has provoked tensions with China <a href="https://asiatimes.com/2022/11/harvard-guru-gives-biden-a-d-for-china-policy/">by reneging on American commitments under the Taiwan Relations Act (1979) to refrain from having official relations or an “alliance” with Taiwan</a>. <a href="https://asiatimes.com/2022/07/proposals-for-us-action-in-s-china-sea-should-worry-everyone/">The U.S. has also been accused</a> of <a href="https://eastasiaforum.org/2018/06/20/us-pundits-and-politicians-pushing-for-war-in-the-south-china-sea/">encouraging conflict in the South China Sea</a> as it has <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2023/2/14/david_vine_us_bases_china_philippines">surrounded China with hundreds of military bases.</a> </p>
<p>Israel’s assault on Gaza is partly the culmination of decades of misguided U.S. foreign policy. Unconditional American support of Israel has helped enable <a href="https://www.amnesty.ca/human-rights-news/israels-apartheid-against-palestinians-a-cruel-system-of-domination-and-a-crime-against-humanity/?psafe_param=1&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw7-SvBhB6EiwAwYdCAVW84WyFFiEvbjzsIp5pPDN5CDlYOCBM52mCC6X6HGC6u52iuTDyyxoCM7MQAvD_BwE">the country’s degeneration</a> into what human rights organizations have called <a href="https://www.hrw.org/report/2021/04/27/threshold-crossed/israeli-authorities-and-crimes-apartheid-and-persecution">apartheid</a>, as the state has built illegal settlements on Palestinian land and violently suppressed Palestinian self-determination. </p>
<p>As Israel is accused <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-68550937">of using starvation as a weapon against 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza</a>, half of them children, the U.S. is fully <a href="https://ccrjustice.org/home/press-center/ccr-news/building-case-us-complicity">complicit in the Israeli war crimes</a> and <a href="https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/south-african-lawyers-preparing-lawsuit-against-us-uk-for-complicity-in-israels-war-crimes-in-gaza/3109201">for facilitating a conflict</a> that is further inflaming a critically important region. </p>
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<p>Israel is of <a href="https://www.csis.org/analysis/israel-strategic-liability">little to no strategic value</a> <a href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20230804-israel-no-longer-serves-us-interest-says-ex-senior-white-house-official/">to the U.S</a>. <a href="https://doi.org/10.3167/isf.2007.220205">American politicians contend that its overwhelming support for Israel reflects moral and cultural ties,</a> <a href="https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2023/11/us-ignores-israeli-war-crimes-domestic-politics-ex-official">but it’s mainly</a> <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/13/us/politics/aipac-israel-gaza-democrats-republicans.html">driven by domestic politics</a>. </p>
<p>That suggests that for <a href="https://www.vox.com/2014/7/24/5929705/us-israel-friends">domestic political reasons</a>, the U.S. has endangered global stability and supported atrocities. </p>
<h2>Biden/Trump foreign policy</h2>
<p>The Biden administration has continued many of the foreign policy initiatives it inherited from Trump. </p>
<p>Biden doubled down on <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/miltonezrati/2022/12/25/biden-escalates-the-economic-war-with-china/?sh=1f1caa1412f3">Trump’s economic</a>, <a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3253917/no-end-us-trade-war-china-biden-administration-pledges-policy-document">technological and political war against China</a>. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-american-technological-war-against-china-could-backfire-219158">Why the American technological war against China could backfire</a>
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<p>He <a href="https://www.cato.org/blog/biden-administration-continues-be-wrong-about-wto">reinforced Trump’s trade protectionism</a> and <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2024/03/08/wto-flops-usa-shrugs-00145691">left the World Trade Organization hobbled</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/07/09/1110109088/biden-is-building-on-the-abraham-accords-part-of-trumps-legacy-in-the-middle-eas">He built on Trump’s “Abraham Accords,”</a> an initiative to convince Arab states to normalize their relations with Israel without a resolution to the Palestine question. </p>
<p>The Biden administration’s efforts to push normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2023/10/11/analysis-why-did-hamas-attack-now-and-what-is-next">is considered part of Hamas’s motivation to attack Israel on Oct. 7, 2023</a>.</p>
<p>None of this inspires confidence in U.S. “global leadership.”</p>
<p>Biden and Trump share the same goal: <a href="https://www.theamericanconservative.com/americas-plot-for-world-domination/">permanent American global domination</a>. They only differ in how to achieve this. </p>
<p>Trump <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/articles/deconstructing-trumps-foreign-policy/">believes the U.S.</a> can <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/1/20/key-moments-in-trumps-foreign-policy">use economic and military might</a> <a href="https://ecfr.eu/article/commentary_2020_the_year_of_economic_coercion_under_trump/">to coerce the world</a> into acquiescing to American desires, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trumps-strong-arm-foreign-policy-tactics-create-tensions-with-both-us-friends-and-foes/2020/01/18/ddb76364-3991-11ea-bb7b-265f4554af6d_story.html">regardless of the costs to everyone else</a> and without the U.S. assuming any obligations to others. </p>
<p>In office, <a href="https://responsiblestatecraft.org/2021/01/20/trump-the-anti-war-president-was-always-a-myth/">Trump tried to present himself as “anti-war.”</a> But his inclination to use of threats and violence reflected established American behaviour.</p>
<p>Biden <a href="https://jacobin.com/2022/10/biden-national-security-strategy-us-hegemony">follows a more diplomatic strategy</a> that tries to control international institutions and convince key states their interests are best served by accepting and co-operating with American domination. However, <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/biden-warns-us-military-may-get-pulled-direct-conflict-russia-1856613">Biden readily resorts to economic and military coercion</a>, too. </p>
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<h2>Reality check?</h2>
<p>The silver lining to a Trump presidency is that it might force U.S. allies to confront reality.</p>
<p>American allies convinced themselves that <a href="https://www.policymagazine.ca/the-biden-doctrine-our-long-international-nightmare-is-over/">the Biden presidency was a return to normalcy</a>, but they’re still accepting and supporting American global violence. They’re also wilfully ignoring the ongoing American political decay that could not be masked by Biden’s defeat of Trump in 2020.</p>
<p>Trump is a <a href="https://www.institutmontaigne.org/en/expressions/trump-symptom-diseased-american-democracy">symptom of American political dysfunction, not a cause</a>. Even if he loses in November, the Republican Party will continue its slide towards fascism and American politics will remain toxic.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.npr.org/2024/02/18/1232263785/generations-after-its-heyday-isolationism-is-alive-and-kicking-up-controversy">A second Trump presidency may convince American allies that the U.S. is unreliable and inconsistent</a>. It may undermine the mostly <a href="https://www.yanisvaroufakis.eu/2024/03/14/how-europe-and-australia-can-end-our-slide-into-irrelevance-servility-national-press-club-of-australia-speech-13-march-2024/">western coalition that has dominated and damaged the world so profoundly</a>. </p>
<p>If Trump returns, traditional U.S. allies may recognize that their interests lie in reconsidering their relations with the U.S. </p>
<p>For American neighbours Canada and Mexico, a Trump presidency is only bad news. They’ll <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/joly-us-authoritarian-game-plan-1.6939369#:%7E:text=Politics-,Canada%20mulling%20'game%20plan'%20if%20U.S.%20takes%20far%2Dright,after%20next%20year's%20presidential%20elections.">have to somehow protect themselves from creeping U.S. fascism</a>. For the rest of the world, it may herald the start of a dynamic multipolar order.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/225524/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shaun Narine has contributed to Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East and Jewish Voice for Peace.</span></em></p>
A second Donald Trump presidency would not necessarily implement a foreign policy any more destructive than what is normal for the United States.
Shaun Narine, Professor of International Relations and Political Science, St. Thomas University (Canada)
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/223582
2024-03-20T16:35:50Z
2024-03-20T16:35:50Z
Friend-shoring: what Biden wants to achieve by trading with allies rather than rivals
<p>The tendency to move production and trade away from countries considered to be political rivals or national security risks and towards allies, so-called <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy0714">“friend-shoring”</a>, is a <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2023/02/friendshoring-global-trade-buzzwords/">hot topic</a> among economists. The term popped up during the COVID pandemic, a time of significant disruption to supply chains, and gained further traction when Russia invaded Ukraine.</p>
<p>One of the most high-profile results of a friend-shoring policy is that Canada and Mexico have recently replaced China as America’s largest trading partners by total trade, while Mexico has overtaken China as America’s top importer (see figures below). This followed the introduction of <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Zhaohui-Wang-22/publication/338085025_Understanding_Trump's_Trade_Policy_with_China_International_Pressures_Meet_Domestic_Politics/links/5fdf5d53299bf140882f7481/Understanding-Trumps-Trade-Policy-with-China-International-Pressures-Meet-Domestic-Politics.pdf">Donald Trump’s trade strategy</a>, which aimed to reduce US dependence on Chinese goods – partly for political reasons and partly because of Trump’s perception of China as a rival power. </p>
<p>Joe Biden has also <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/09/biden-to-sign-chips-act-china-competition-bill.html">placed restrictions on trade</a> with China in an attempt to strengthen US competitiveness with China and grow the US tech industry.</p>
<p>The US <a href="https://www.piie.com/research/piie-charts/2019/us-china-trade-war-tariffs-date-chart">raised tariffs</a> on imports from China significantly during the Trump administration. These levels remain high, making the costs of importing goods from China to the US more expensive. </p>
<p>In addition, the International Labor Organization Global Wage <a href="https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_protect/---protrav/---travail/documents/publication/wcms_862569.pdf">Report 2022-23</a> shows that China has experienced the highest rate of real wage growth among all G20 countries over the period 2008-22, also pushing up the price of Chinese goods. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/2023/08/30/what-is-friendshoring">Biden administration</a> continues to champion friend-shoring, which has further encouraged companies to shift production from China to Mexico as they weigh up geopolitical risks against differences in the costs of production. </p>
<p>While data on the number of firms relocating production is not available, the latest trade data (see Figures 1 and 2) suggests Mexico has managed to <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/2ca4da83-f858-4215-88e7-544adf0aa18e">capitalise</a> on the US-China rivalry.</p>
<p>Closer relationships with allies can be created by forming new trade agreements, for example, the <a href="https://ustr.gov/trade-agreements/free-trade-agreements/united-states-mexico-canada-agreement#:%7E:text=The%20United%20States%2DMexico%2DCanada%20Agreement%20(USMCA)%20entered,farmers%2C%20ranchers%2C%20and%20businesses.">US, Mexico, Canada Agreement (USMCA)</a>, which is more about geopolitics and friend-shoring than lowering tariff barriers as was the case of its predecessor, the <a href="https://www.trade.gov/north-american-free-trade-agreement-nafta">North America Free Trade Agreement (Nafta)</a>. </p>
<p>But the USMCA was also a product of its time. US political will had shifted towards undermining political competitors and setting out anti-China political statements that resonated with voters. </p>
<p>Trump, a <a href="https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/naftas-economic-impact">consistent critic of Nafta</a>, had argued that it undermined American jobs and wages, a statement that undoubtedly played well in US industrial states experiencing manufacturing decline. A paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research suggested that far more US jobs were lost due to <a href="https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w21906/w21906.pdf">competition with China</a>.</p>
<h2>Doing business with your friends</h2>
<p>Friend-shoring is a new term for something that has been around for a long time. Countries engaged in sanctions, blockades, and friend-shoring during the first and second world wars on a much <a href="https://yalebooks.co.uk/book/9780300270488/the-economic-weapon/">larger scale</a>. </p>
<p>In 1948, the US initiated economic sanctions against the Soviet Union, a 50-year-long strategy that started with export restrictions and was solidified by the Export Control Act of 1949. </p>
<p>These sanctions, intensified after the Battle Act of 1951, were aimed at limiting strategic goods to the Soviet bloc and became a permanent fixture of cold war policy following the escalation of the <a href="https://www.americanforeignrelations.com/E-N/Embargoes-and-Sanctions-Cold-war-sanctions.html">Korean war</a>.</p>
<p>Data analysis shows how trade responds to political factors. For over sixty years, trade economists have made extensive use of <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4037001">the gravity model</a> of trade, which has provided empirical evidence that countries tend to trade more with countries geographically closer to them as well as where there is a common language, common legal system, common exchange rate regime and shared colonial history. </p>
<p>Research also shows how political distance between countries and formal military alliances affects trade. </p>
<p><strong>Value of US imports from top five trading partners in 2010-23:</strong></p>
<p><strong>US trade with countries by value:</strong></p>
<p>Governments can use trade policy to strategically support their own industries, so reducing trade with rivals can be part of a political agenda based on boosting domestic manufacturing (and jobs) rather than relying on imports. The <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/08/09/fact-sheet-chips-and-science-act-will-lower-costs-create-jobs-strengthen-supply-chains-and-counter-china/">US Chips and Science</a> Act, and in the EU, the <a href="https://commission.europa.eu/strategy-and-policy/priorities-2019-2024/europe-fit-digital-age/european-chips-act_en">European Chips Act</a>, are examples of policies that can inflict economic pain on adversaries while ensuring domestic production of this key component in high-technology manufacturing. </p>
<p>However, developing an industry takes time. By the time the industry is established, it <a href="https://www.piie.com/publications/piie-briefings/2021/scoring-50-years-us-industrial-policy-1970-2020">may not pay off</a>, either due to falling prices caused by increased supply or an economic slowdown that suppresses demand. </p>
<p>In the case of US chips, it is particularly interesting to note that the existing industry focuses on design and production of high-quality chips. Therefore, the latest policy will see low-cost microchips, the mainstay of the Chinese chip industry, start to be produced in the US and compete with the established US high-end suppliers. </p>
<p>The US has experienced the negative effects of these types of policies before. Just consider the US support for the steel industry, a popular choice among US presidents, including the <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/e0219409-b863-41fb-bbcb-6be9ad6f0a4e?emailId=c8a49fc1-229a-4246-984b-42598eccb2e6&segmentId=2785c52b-1c00-edaa-29be-7452cf90b5a2">current administration</a>. Under the Trump administration, this saw <a href="https://www.piie.com/blogs/trade-and-investment-policy-watch/trumps-steel-and-aluminum-tariffs-are-cascading-out-control">25% tariffs</a> imposed on steel imports, which benefited the US industry but imposed costs on steel users. </p>
<p>Countries such as <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/a-special-relationship-australia-safe-from-trump-s-tariffs-for-now-20190603-p51tyr.html">Australia</a> were exempt from this policy, while <a href="https://www.piie.com/blogs/trade-and-investment-policy-watch/trumps-steel-and-aluminum-tariffs-are-cascading-out-control">other allies</a>, such as the EU, were hit hard. Industrial policy can reduce dependence on rivals, but it’s not clear that friends always get special treatment.</p>
<p>Other policies can tie in with a friend-shoring agenda. The new generation of <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/twec.13213">EU trade agreements</a> deal with issues including labour rights and environmental protection, making it clear that third countries that want to do business with the EU need to meet the same standards. The EU has also been debating new anti-forced labour legislation, so this type of legislation may also start to get more serious consideration in the UK, for instance.</p>
<p>Friend-shoring policies aren’t new, but the slogan is. Self-sufficiency at the national level can inflict short-term pain on adversaries but may hold limited benefits in the medium term. However, there is broader acceptance that businesses need to have the certainty of trading bloc friends. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.oecd.org/trade/topics/regional-trade-agreements/#:%7E:text=Regional%20trade%20agreements%20(RTAs)%20cover,World%20Trade%20Organization%20(WTO).">Half of all trade</a> currently takes place between members of trade blocs, and recent trade data for the US and Mexico (see figures above) suggests that trade blocs may become more important over time as production moves.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/223582/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Canada and Mexico have replaced China as the US’s largest trading partners, due to friend-shoring policies.
Karen Jackson, Reader in Economics, University of Westminster
Oleksandr Shepotylo, Senior Lecturer in Economics, Aston University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/223259
2024-03-11T12:23:54Z
2024-03-11T12:23:54Z
How ‘hometown associations’ help immigrants support their communities in the US and back in their homelands
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580317/original/file-20240307-26-6881fx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=84%2C53%2C5028%2C3119&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Many Mexican immigrants stay connected to communities in their country of origin.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/merged-flags-of-usa-and-mexico-painted-on-concrete-royalty-free-image/640127588?adppopup=true">ronniechua/iStock via Getty Images Plus</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>“<a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/24357864">Hometown associations</a>,” also known as migrant clubs, are nonprofits formed by immigrants who are originally from the same place in their country of origin. They serve as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10841806.2024.2313386">channels through which immigrants make charitable gifts</a> that help people settle in their new country while also aiding communities back in their homelands. Many <a href="https://www.rutgersuniversitypress.org/mexican-hometown-associations-in-chicagoacan/9780813564920/">were created in the 1990s</a>.</p>
<p>Mexican hometown associations are the most widely established. </p>
<p>But <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-0374.2006.00130.x">Turkish</a>, <a href="https://ideas.repec.org/p/pri/cmgdev/wp11-03aagarwala-india-report-march-2011.pdf.html">Indian</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13691830500178147">Filipino, Guatemalan, Salvadoran</a>, <a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-global-ethiopian-diaspora-shimelis-bonsa-gulema/1144167013">Ethiopian</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2013.871492">Bolivian</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1515/9781782387350-005">Colombian and Dominican</a> immigrants, among others, have created them too. </p>
<h2>Why hometown associations matter</h2>
<p>I’m a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=a8EwKzoAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">scholar of philanthropy</a> who has recently studied the Mexican hometown associations that support causes on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10841806.2024.2313386">both sides of the U.S. southern border</a>.</p>
<p>In particular, I researched the associations that make up the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/FederacionZacatecanaEnIllinois/?locale=es_LA">Federación de Clubes Unidos Zacatecanos en Illinois</a>. </p>
<p>This federation, formed by immigrants from towns in the Mexican state of Zacatecas who moved to Illinois, includes 15 active associations. Each has between 20 and 500 members.</p>
<p>Since 1995, these nonprofits have helped newly arrived Mexican immigrants in the communities where they now live and residents of their original Zacatecan hometowns. For example, they help Mexican American students in Illinois pay for college, as well as chip in to cover some higher-ed costs for Mexican students back in Zacatecas.</p>
<p>The associations also contribute to projects that benefit their communities back in Zacatecas. Examples include paving roads, establishing athletic fields, installing electricity, increasing access to clean water and building everything from churches to health clinics. </p>
<p>The groups raise money by holding member breakfasts, mariachi concerts, raffles and other events in Chicago and elsewhere in Illinois. <a href="https://www.facebook.com/FederacionZacatecanaEnIllinois/videos/rifa-fcuzi/248498930146336/?locale=es_LA">Their fundraisers can generate</a> anywhere from a couple of thousand dollars to tens of thousands annually. </p>
<p>Many of these groups have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/psp.1958">informal origins</a>. Some got their start when immigrants were gathering for other reasons, such as <a href="https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=AONE&u=anon%7Ec73a92bc&id=GALE%7CA282581052&v=2.1&it=r&sid=googleScholar&asid=86ff5d91">taking part in local soccer and baseball games</a>. Today, most hometown associations remain led by volunteers. </p>
<p>Even with volunteer leadership, in the Mexican case, these associations have adopted more formal approaches to their operations over the years. They gather in local community centers, which they often own. </p>
<h2>Collective remittances</h2>
<p>Hometown associations are an example of what’s known as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0012-155X.2004.00380.x">collective remittances</a>, the technical term for immigrants pooling money earned abroad and sending it back to their homelands.</p>
<p>All told, immigrants around the world <a href="https://www.migrationdataportal.org/themes/remittances">send about US$860 billion</a> back to their homelands every year through remittances. This money flows directly to family and friends, helping them pay for housing, food and other expenses.</p>
<p>This estimate leaves out collective philanthropy, including the money that hometown associations send back to their homelands. I’ve never found a reliable estimate of the scale of hometown associations’ charitable contributions. Even the number of associations across immigrant groups is not fully determined, making estimates of their collective donations hard to calculate. </p>
<p>But what I have observed is how the members of hometown associations team up to serve their communities in ways that don’t involve only money. They voluntarily devote their time, labor and knowledge to help their countries of origin for the public good.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/223259/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Susan Appe's research was supported by the U.S. Fulbright Program and The U.S.-Mexico Commission for Educational Exchange (COMEXUS).</span></em></p>
Mexican groups are the most common, but immigrants from Turkey, Bolivia and many more countries have formed their own.
Susan Appe, Associate Professor of Public Administration and Policy, University at Albany, State University of New York
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/225199
2024-03-07T17:23:54Z
2024-03-07T17:23:54Z
Copa 71: how the first women’s World Cup was erased from footballing history
<p>The young Gail Emms, who would later become world badminton champion, was great at sport. At school, she once proudly gave a detailed presentation about how her mother, Janice, had played football for England in a World Cup in the early 1970s. Her teachers enjoyed the story but thought Gail was fantasising. There was no official record of any such event taking place. </p>
<p>However, Janice Emms did indeed play for an England football team in Mexico City in 1971 – and in front of a crowd of 90,000 at that. The women and girls concerned hid their involvement because football’s world governing body, Fifa, disapproved, and England’s Football Association (FA) sought to ban those who had participated in this “unsanctioned” tournament. </p>
<p>The players involved seldom talked about Mexico later, even among themselves. But those who had been there would never forget it.</p>
<p>Copa 71, a new documentary film about this long-forgotten landmark tournament, lists US soccer star Alex Morgan and tennis legends Serena and Venus Williams as executive producers. It premiered recently at the British Film Institute and, to some acclaim, at the Toronto International Film Festival. </p>
<p>Released on March 8, it interviews some of those involved and emerges at a moment when the women’s game is experiencing unprecedented commercial and popular success. The Women’s World Cup is now a major money-spinner and a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2023/aug/04/womens-world-cup-2023-hailed-as-most-successful-in-history-at-halfway-point">global TV event</a>, and Fifa has even <a href="https://www.fifa.com/tournaments/womens/womensworldcup/australia-new-zealand2023/news/bareman-women-will-play-vital-role-in-football-s-future">embraced</a> women’s football as the “future” of the game. Times have changed.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tXx5usO4v2E?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The extraordinary story of the 1971 Women’s Football World Cup.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>‘British Independents’</h2>
<p>In the early 1970s, Italian drinks company Martini Rosso identified untapped commercial and marketing potential in women’s football. It argued for a privately funded international tournament in Mexico in 1971 – promising to pay for the kit, travel and accommodation of any Europeans willing to be involved. </p>
<p>Six countries took part, including four from Europe. In England, there was little point engaging with the FA on such matters: women’s football had been <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/jun/13/how-the-fa-banned-womens-football-in-1921-and-tried-to-justify-it">banned</a> there for 50 years, and it was barely on the national agenda again. So, a Mr Harry Batt from Luton was contacted instead. </p>
<p>Early women footballers remember Batt fondly as a chain-smoking, rather sweary bus driver in his sixties. He and his wife, June, had started up the Chiltern Valley Ladies football club in 1969. An unlikely moderniser, Batt had recognised the demand among young women in his area for a chance to play, and built a successful and competitive regional club. </p>
<p>So, when the man from Martini Rosso came calling and asked Batt if he could put a squad together to represent England in Mexico, he jumped at the chance. Batt’s scratch team of so-called “British Independents” ranged in age from the 13-year-old Leah Caleb to a handful of more mature women players. Parental approval was needed for some squad members even to travel.</p>
<p>Did Batt really know what he was doing? His inexperienced and youthful team had only ever performed in charity matches or on uneven park pitches in front of a smattering of dogs, friends and family members. Children played alongside adults because of the paucity of women players; there was nowhere decent even for female players to change. </p>
<p>In Mexico City, this patchwork 14-player squad – by now re-labelled as England – played between daft pink-and-white goalposts in some of the largest stadia in the world, in front of enormous and enthusiastic crowds. The England women suffered injuries and lost their matches, but respect for them abroad grew.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580231/original/file-20240306-18-fgv5q1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An image of a crowd gathered outside a large football stadium." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580231/original/file-20240306-18-fgv5q1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580231/original/file-20240306-18-fgv5q1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580231/original/file-20240306-18-fgv5q1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580231/original/file-20240306-18-fgv5q1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580231/original/file-20240306-18-fgv5q1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580231/original/file-20240306-18-fgv5q1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580231/original/file-20240306-18-fgv5q1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In 1971, Mexico City’s Estadio Azteca was the world’s largest football stadium, hosting 112,000 fans for the women’s final.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1971_Women%27s_World_Cup#/media/File:Mexico_stadium_1986.jpg">Karl Oppolzer/Wikipedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Disappearing from view</h2>
<p>And Batt’s reward for all this promoting of women and girls’ football in the international spotlight? A rebuff from Fifa and a lifetime ban from the FA. Thanks for nothing.</p>
<p>The New York Times had <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1971/06/27/archives/soccer-goes-sexy-south-of-border-womens-world-cup-aimed-at-the-2.html">billed</a> the Mexico tournament as “Soccer Goes Sexy South of Border”, with women’s football depicted as “a mixture between a sports event and a beauty contest … the shorts will be as close as possible to hot pants”. </p>
<p>But in fact, these international women footballers appear to have been as revered in Mexico as were men players. Some 112,000 fans watched Denmark defeat Mexico 3–0 in the final. Autograph hunters and TV presenters followed every step of the visiting England team. </p>
<p>After this sort of adulation, coming home was a real let-down. Mexico ‘71 had barely registered in England.</p>
<p>It took the dinosaurs at the FA another decade, under protest, to take the <a href="https://www.englandfootball.com/england/womens-senior-team/Legacy/History">women’s game</a> in-house, and a blundering Fifa 20 years to organise the first official Women’s World Cup, in <a href="https://www.fifa.com/tournaments/womens/womensworldcup/chinapr1991">China</a>. So many wasted years.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/225199/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Williams does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Thousands of fans packed out stadiums for the 1971 women’s World Cup, but it has been virtually erased from history.
John Williams, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Leicester
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/217253
2024-02-26T13:39:14Z
2024-02-26T13:39:14Z
What ancient farmers can really teach us about adapting to climate change – and how political power influences success or failure
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576820/original/file-20240220-22-4dkk2z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=15%2C15%2C5160%2C3391&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A farmer paddles to his fields on an artificial island among canals, part of an ancient Aztec system known as chinampas, in 2021. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/ae1d688be96145e38f16681367992bca?ext=true">AP Photo /Marco Ugarte</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In dozens of archaeological discoveries around the world, from the once-successful reservoirs and canals of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaa.2020.101166">Angkor Wat</a> in Cambodia to the deserted <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2209615120">Viking colonies</a> of Greenland, new evidence paints pictures of civilizations struggling with unforeseen climate changes and the reality that their farming practices had become unsustainable.</p>
<p>Among these discoveries are also success stories, where ancient farming practices helped civilizations survive the hard times. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2209615120">Zuni farmers</a> in the southwestern United States made it through long stretches of extremely low rainfall between A.D. 1200 and 1400 by embracing small-scale, decentralized irrigation systems. <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520343757/the-scarcity-slot">Farmers in Ghana</a> coped with severe droughts from 1450 to 1650 by planting indigenous African grains, like drought-tolerant pearl millet. </p>
<p>Ancient practices like these are gaining new interest today. As countries face unprecedented heat waves, storms and melting glaciers, some farmers and international development organizations are reaching deep into the agricultural archives to revive these ancient solutions.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A canal running through a mountain side with snowy peaks in the background." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576825/original/file-20240220-18-dywyn0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576825/original/file-20240220-18-dywyn0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576825/original/file-20240220-18-dywyn0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576825/original/file-20240220-18-dywyn0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576825/original/file-20240220-18-dywyn0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576825/original/file-20240220-18-dywyn0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576825/original/file-20240220-18-dywyn0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">An ancient irrigation method used by the Moors involving water channels is being revisited in Spain.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/water-channel-for-irrigation-known-as-an-acequia-sierra-news-photo/525482563?adppopup=true">Geography Photos/Universal Images Group via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>Drought-stricken farmers in Spain have reclaimed medieval <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/19/world/europe/spain-drought-acequias.html">Moorish irrigation</a> technology. International companies hungry for carbon offsets have paid big money for <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/ancient-farming-practice-draws-cash-from-carbon-credits-a803aee1">biochar made using pre-Columbian</a> Amazonian production techniques. Texas ranchers have turned to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/may/29/rio-grande-valley-farmers-study-ancient-technique-cover-cropping-climate-crisis">ancient cover cropping</a> methods to buffer against unpredictable weather patterns.</p>
<p>But grasping for ancient technologies and techniques without paying attention to historical context misses one of the most important lessons ancient farmers can reveal: Agricultural sustainability is as much about power and sovereignty as it is about soil, water and crops.</p>
<p>I’m an archaeologist who studies <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10814-019-09138-5">agricultural sustainability</a> in the past. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1914211117">Discoveries in recent years</a> have shown how <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2015.07.022">the human past</a> is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-anthro-092611-145941">full of people</a> who <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03190-2">dealt with climate change</a> in both sustainable and unsustainable ways. Archaeologists are finding that ancient sustainability was tethered closely to politics. However, these dynamics are often forgotten in discussions of sustainability today.</p>
<h2>Maya milpa farming: Forest access is essential</h2>
<p>In the tropical lowlands of Mexico and Central America, Indigenous Maya farmers have been practicing milpa agriculture for thousands of years. Milpa farmers adapted to drought by gently steering forest ecology through <a href="https://doi.org/10.1890/120344">controlled burns</a> and careful <a href="https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=gVyTDAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=Maya+milpa+forest+garden&ots=1ozG6sVYyg&sig=KZNXSDWX2ZR_Em7qGY37CqdeIG0#v=onepage&q=Maya%20milpa%20forest%20garden&f=false">woodland conservation</a>.</p>
<p>The knowledge of milpa farming empowered many <a href="https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=cX7SEAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=chan+Cynthia+robin&ots=yErzYIWFsz&sig=vNrtsYW7IC0X2UnieHxor4Hiiiw#v=onepage&q=chan%20Cynthia%20robin&f=false">rural farmers</a> to navigate climate changes during the notorious <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1114838109">Maya Collapse</a> – two centuries of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1419133112">political disintegration and urban depopulation</a> between A.D. 800 to 1000. Importantly, later Maya political leaders worked with farmers to keep this flexibility. Their light-handed approach is still legible in the artifacts and settlement patterns of <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Political_Geography_of_the_Yucatan_M.html?id=52BlAAAAMAAJ">post-Collapse farming communities</a> and preserved in the flexible <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-020-00134-8">tribute schedules</a> for Maya farmers documented by 16th century Spanish monks.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/96rIEVptFwo?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Maya farmers and researchers explain milpa farming.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520395879/rooting-in-a-useless-land">my book</a>, “Rooting in a Useless Land: Ancient Farmers, Celebrity Chefs, and Environmental Justice in Yucatán,” I trace the deep history of the Maya milpa. Using archaeology, I show how ancient farmers adapted milpa agriculture in response to centuries of drought and political upheaval.</p>
<p>Modern Maya milpa practices began drawing public attention a few years ago as <a href="https://www.cimmyt.org/news/helping-farming-families-thrive-while-fighting-climate-change-in-mexico/">international development organizations</a> partnered with celebrity chefs, like <a href="https://www.cimmyt.org/es/noticias/el-restaurante-noma-llega-a-tulum-y-utilizara-maices-sustentables-de-yaxunah-2/">Noma’s René Redzepi</a>, and embraced the concept. </p>
<p>However, these groups condemned the traditional milpa practice of burning new areas of forest as unsustainable. They instead promoted a “no-burn” version to grow certified <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/23/dining/noma-tulum-pete-wells-mexico-rene-redzepi.html">organic maize for high-end restaurants</a>. Their no-burn version of milpa relies on fertilizers to grow maize in a fixed location, rather than using controlled fire ecology to manage soil fertility across vast forests.</p>
<p>The result restricted the traditional practices Maya farmers have used for centuries. It also fed into a modern political threat to traditional Maya milpa farming: land grabs. </p>
<p>Traditional milpa agriculture requires a lot of forested land, since farmers need to relocate their fields every couple of years. But that need for forest is at odds with hotel companies, industrial cattle ranches and green energy developers who want cheap land and see Maya milpa forest management practices as inefficient. No-burn milpa eases this conflict by locking maize agriculture into one small space indefinitely, instead of spreading it out through the forest over generations. But it also changes tradition. </p>
<p>Maya milpa farmers are now fighting to practice their ancient agricultural techniques, not because they’ve forgotten or lost those techniques, but because <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/joac.12520">neocolonial</a> land <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2016.1215305">privatization policies</a> actively undermine farmers’ ability to manage woodlands as their ancestors did. </p>
<p>Milpa farmers are increasingly left to either adopt a rebranded version of their heritage or quit farming all together – as many have done.</p>
<h2>Mexico’s fragile artificial islands: Threats from development</h2>
<p>When I look to the work of other archaeologists investigating ancient agricultural practices, I see these same entanglements of power and sustainability.</p>
<p>In central Mexico, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/24931564?casa_token=Mnjg8lpMxdEAAAAA:xtiTRUNdJVlBTAR3voVS3IszoyqO-VSb8MSohjUlxpYEdNtVKu0QPefJMjiSyvobBMO94-zcDj2E6DOXbNoUl1d-MNm3UO6TDKVsG4JLVxpWkHtFIg">chinampas</a> are ancient systems of artificial islands and canals. They have enabled farmers to cultivate food in wetlands for centuries. </p>
<p>The continuing existence of chinampas is a legacy of deep ecological knowledge and a resource enabling communities to feed themselves.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571516/original/file-20240125-21-sq17hw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571516/original/file-20240125-21-sq17hw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571516/original/file-20240125-21-sq17hw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571516/original/file-20240125-21-sq17hw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571516/original/file-20240125-21-sq17hw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571516/original/file-20240125-21-sq17hw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571516/original/file-20240125-21-sq17hw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Chinampa techniques use canals and artificial islands. This photo shows one in 1912.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chinampas.jpg">Karl Weule, Leitfaden der Voelkerkunde via Wikimedia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A well-maintained farming island among canals near Mexico City." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571517/original/file-20240125-19-ug1yul.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571517/original/file-20240125-19-ug1yul.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571517/original/file-20240125-19-ug1yul.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571517/original/file-20240125-19-ug1yul.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571517/original/file-20240125-19-ug1yul.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571517/original/file-20240125-19-ug1yul.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571517/original/file-20240125-19-ug1yul.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The chinampas of Xochimilco are a UNESCO world heritage site today, but development expanding from Mexico City has put their survival in danger.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/sergiosf/12546098673">Sergei Saint via Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But archaeology has revealed that generations of sustainable chinampa management could be overturned almost overnight. That happened when the expansionist Aztec Empire decided to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003598X00101164">re-engineer Lake Xaltocan</a> for salt production in the 14th century and rendered its chinampas unusable.</p>
<p>Today, the future of chinampa agriculture hinges on a pocket of protected fields <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/history-and-civilisation/2022/07/in-mexico-city-the-pandemic-revived-aztec-era-island-farms">stewarded by local farmers</a> in the marshy outskirts of Mexico City. These fields are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2021.07.018">now at risk</a> as demand for housing drives informal settlements into the chinampa zone.</p>
<h2>Andean raised fields: A story of labor exploitation</h2>
<p>Traditional Andean agriculture in South America incorporates a diverse range of ancient cultivation techniques. One in particular has a complicated history of attracting revival efforts.</p>
<p>In the 1980s, government agencies, <a href="https://www.penn.museum/documents/publications/expedition/30-3/Raised.pdf">archaeologists</a> and development organizations spent a fortune trying to persuade Andean farmers to <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9781315810997/inventing-indigenous-knowledge-lynn-swartley">revive raised field farming</a>. Ancient raised fields had been found around Lake Titicaca, on the border of Peru and Bolivia. These groups became convinced that this relic technology could curb hunger in the Andes by enabling back-to-back potato harvests with no need for fallowing.</p>
<p>But Andean farmers had no connection to the labor-intensive raised fields. The practice had been abandoned even before the rise of Inca civilization in the 13th century. The effort to revive ancient raised field agriculture collapsed.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A view from a plane shows the outlines where fields were raised." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571518/original/file-20240125-21-4uobzz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571518/original/file-20240125-21-4uobzz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571518/original/file-20240125-21-4uobzz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571518/original/file-20240125-21-4uobzz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571518/original/file-20240125-21-4uobzz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571518/original/file-20240125-21-4uobzz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571518/original/file-20240125-21-4uobzz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An aerial photograph shows pre-Colombian raised fields in Bolivia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/861590">Umberto Lombardo, University of Bern, Switzerland</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
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<p>Since then, more <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaa.2005.03.002">archaeological discoveries</a> around Lake Titicaca have suggested that ancient farmers were forced to work the raised fields <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaa.2004.08.001">by the expansionist Tiwanaku empire</a> during its peak between AD 500 and 1100. Far from the politically neutral narrative promoted by development organizations, the raised fields were not there to help farmers feed themselves. They were a technology for exploiting labor and extracting surplus crops from ancient Andean farmers.</p>
<h2>Respecting ancient practices’ histories</h2>
<p>Reclaiming <a href="https://www.soulfirefarm.org/media/farming-while-black/">ancestral farming</a> techniques can be a <a href="https://www.icollectiveinc.org/">step toward sustainable food systems</a>, especially when descendant communities lead their reclamation. The world can, and I think should, reach back to recover agricultural practices from our collective past.</p>
<p>But we can’t pretend that those practices are apolitical.</p>
<p>The Maya milpa farmers who continue to practice controlled burns in defiance of land privatizers understand the value of ancient techniques and the threat posed by political power. So do the Mexican chinampa farmers working to restore local food to disenfranchised urban communities. And so do the Andean farmers refusing to participate in once-exploitive raised field rehabilitation projects. </p>
<p>Depending on how they are used, ancient agricultural practices can either reinforce social inequalities or create more equitable food systems. Ancient practices aren’t inherently good – it takes a deeper commitment to just and equitable food systems to make them sustainable.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217253/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chelsea Fisher has received research funding from the National Science Foundation, the Wenner-Gren Foundation, and the Fulbright-Hays Program.</span></em></p>
Agricultural sustainability is as much about power and sovereignty as it is about soil, water and crops.
Chelsea Fisher, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, University of South Carolina
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/223598
2024-02-16T13:19:53Z
2024-02-16T13:19:53Z
Mexico is suing US gun-makers for arming its gangs − and a US court could award billions in damages
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575682/original/file-20240214-30-2tfucu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=45%2C13%2C4315%2C2857&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A sign in Laredo, Texas, reminds motorists not to smuggle guns into Mexico.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/sign-warns-motorists-not-to-smuggle-weapons-or-ammunitions-news-photo/91474155">Gilles Mingasson/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The government of Mexico is <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2024/01/23/us-appeals-court-allows-mexicos-10-billion-lawsuit-against-us-gunmakers-to-proceed/?sh=7f16abcb3071">suing U.S. gun-makers</a> for their role in facilitating cross-border gun trafficking that has <a href="https://stopusarmstomexico.org/invisible-weapons-indelible-pain/">supercharged violent crime</a> in Mexico.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/mexico-smith-wesson-complaint.pdf">The lawsuit seeks US$10 billion</a> in damages and a court order to force the companies named in the lawsuit – including Smith & Wesson, Colt, Glock, Beretta and Ruger – to change the way they do business. In January, a federal appeals court in Boston <a href="https://tlblog.org/first-circuit-allows-some-of-mexicos-claims-against-gun-manufacturer-to-move-forward/">decided</a> that the industry’s immunity shield, which so far has protected gun-makers from civil liability, does not apply to Mexico’s lawsuit.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=yQUI6yEAAAAJ&hl=en">a legal scholar</a> who has <a href="https://press.umich.edu/Books/S/Suing-the-Gun-Industry2">analyzed lawsuits</a> against the gun industry for more than 25 years, I believe this decision to allow Mexico’s lawsuit to proceed could be a game changer. To understand why, let’s begin with some background about the federal law that protects the gun industry from civil lawsuits.</p>
<h2>Gun industry immunity</h2>
<p>In 2005, Congress passed the <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/15/chapter-105">Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act</a>, which prohibits lawsuits against firearm manufacturers and sellers for injuries arising from criminal misuse of a gun.</p>
<p>Importantly, <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4357413">there are limits</a> to this immunity shield. For example, it <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/15/7903">doesn’t protect</a> a manufacturer or seller who “knowingly violated a State or Federal statute <a href="https://theconversation.com/sandy-hook-lawsuit-court-victory-opens-crack-in-gun-maker-immunity-shield-113636">applicable to the sale or marketing</a>” of a firearm. <a href="https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/mexico-smith-wesson-complaint.pdf">Mexico’s lawsuit</a> alleges that U.S. gun-makers aided and abetted illegal weapons sales to gun traffickers in violation of federal law.</p>
<h2>Mexico’s allegations</h2>
<p>Mexico claims that U.S. gun-makers engaged in “<a href="https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/mexico-smith-wesson-complaint">deliberate efforts to create and maintain an illegal market for their weapons in Mexico</a>.”</p>
<p>According to the lawsuit, the manufacturers intentionally design their weapons to be attractive to criminal organizations in Mexico by including features such as easy conversion to fully automatic fire, compatibility with high-capacity magazines and removable serial numbers.</p>
<p>Mexico also points to industry marketing that promises buyers a tactical military experience for civilians. And Mexico alleges that manufacturers distribute their products to dealers whom they know serve as transit points for illegal gunrunning through illegal <a href="https://www.nssf.org/articles/beware-the-straw-purchase/">straw sales</a>, unlicensed sales at gun shows and online, and off-book sales disguised as inventory theft.</p>
<p>In short, Mexico claims that illegal gun trafficking isn’t just an unwanted byproduct of the industry’s design choices, marketing campaigns and distribution practices. Instead, according to the lawsuit, feeding demand for illegal weapons is central to the industry’s business model.</p>
<p>In response, <a href="https://perma.cc/RRT6-PVDZ">the gun-makers insist</a> that Mexico’s attempt to hold them legally responsible for the criminal activity of others is precisely the type of lawsuit that the federal immunity shield was designed to block. They argue that merely selling a product that someone later uses in a crime does not amount to a violation of federal law that would deprive a manufacturer of immunity. Additionally, the gun-makers assert that, even if Mexico’s lawsuit were not barred by the immunity law, they have no legal duty to prevent criminal violence that occurs outside the U.S. </p>
<h2>The next legal steps</h2>
<p>In January 2024, a federal appeals court in Massachusetts decided that Mexico’s allegations, if true, would deprive the gun-makers of immunity, and it <a href="https://tlblog.org/first-circuit-allows-some-of-mexicos-claims-against-gun-manufacturer-to-move-forward/">sent the case back to trial court</a>. Mexico now needs to produce evidence to prove its allegations that the industry is not only aware of but actively facilitates illegal gun trafficking. </p>
<p>Additionally, to win, Mexico will need to convince a Boston jury that the manufacturers’ design choices, marketing campaigns and distribution practices are closely enough connected to street crime in Mexico to consider the companies responsible for the problem. This is known as “<a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/proximate_cause">proximate cause</a>” in the law.</p>
<p>For their part, the gun-makers have asked the trial judge to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/gun-makers-ask-us-supreme-court-bar-mexicos-lawsuit-2024-02-09">put the case on hold</a> while they pursue an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. However, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/12/us/politics/supreme-court-sandy-hook-remington.html">the Supreme Court has been reluctant</a> to weigh in on gun industry cases until they have reached their conclusion in the lower courts, where most of them <a href="https://casetext.com/case/ileto-v-glock-inc-2">are dismissed</a> and a few <a href="https://apnews.com/article/sandy-hook-school-shooting-remington-settlement-e53b95d398ee9b838afc06275a4df403">have settled</a>. </p>
<h2>High stakes for the industry</h2>
<p>If Mexico does win at trial, its demand for $10 billion in damages could drive several of the nation’s largest firearm manufacturers into <a href="https://www.epiqglobal.com/en-us/resource-center/articles/when-mass-tort-meets-bankruptcy">bankruptcy</a>. Even if the case were to settle for much less, a victory by Mexico would provide a template for a wave of future lawsuits that could change the way the gun industry operates.</p>
<p>Similar theories about dangerous product designs, irresponsible marketing and reckless distribution practices in opioid litigation have transformed the pharmaceutical industry. Civil lawsuits have forced the drugmakers to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/08/business/mckinsey-opioids-oxycontin.html">take public responsibility</a> for a nationwide health crisis, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-021-06799-1">overhaul the way they do business</a> and <a href="https://www.opioidsettlementtracker.com/globalsettlementtracker">pay billions of dollars</a> in judgments and settlements.</p>
<p>Mexico’s lawsuit holds out the prospect that the gun industry could be next.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/223598/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Timothy D. Lytton has provided expert consulting services to law firms representing gun violence victims.</span></em></p>
Mexico claims that US firearm manufacturers are fueling illegal cross-border gun trafficking and violent crime abroad.
Timothy D. Lytton, Regents' Professor & Professor of Law, Georgia State University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/214691
2024-01-19T13:40:18Z
2024-01-19T13:40:18Z
Latin America’s colonial period was far less Catholic than it might seem − despite the Inquisition’s attempts to police religion
<p>One of the most pervasive myths about colonial Latin American society is that it was Catholic, full stop. </p>
<p>It’s a familiar story: As history books tell it, the Europeans brought their religion to the New World, and none were as zealous in their attempts to convert Indigenous people as the Spaniards. Indeed, in the Spanish view, the quest to spread Catholicism to every corner of the world was a central pillar of colonization.</p>
<p>A quick glance at how deeply Catholic much of the region still is – <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/996386/latin-america-religion-affiliation-share-type/">some 57% of Latin Americans</a> – seems to reinforce the idea of Spanish missionaries’ success.</p>
<p>In truth, Spanish control in the Americas was far from absolute. Despite the sweeping proclamations of missionaries who claimed to convert thousands of souls every day to Christianity, spiritual life in the colonies would have made the pope do a double take. </p>
<h2>Far from the Vatican</h2>
<p>Spain’s colonies were a vast <a href="https://utpress.utexas.edu/9781477315835/">patchwork of borderlands</a> built over the smoldering infrastructure of Indigenous civilizations such as <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/fifth-sun-9780197577660">the Mexica</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/who-lived-at-machu-picchu-dna-analysis-shows-surprising-diversity-at-the-ancient-inca-palace-210287">the Inca</a>. Even at the centers of colonial control, like Mexico City and Lima, <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/2390824">Spanish power was decentralized</a>, meaning that virtually no policy, order or law was consistently implemented. The reach of the Spanish crown depended as much on the whims of low-ranking administrators as on the king’s own advisers.</p>
<p>The unevenness of colonial authority held true <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/tam.2021.46">in the realm of religion</a>, as well – a focus of <a href="https://as.tufts.edu/history/people/faculty/diego-luis">my historical research</a>.</p>
<p>Oftentimes, “conversion” simply meant baptism. Priests would sprinkle water on the convert’s head, give them a “Christian” – i.e., Hispanic – name, and encourage them to attend Mass on Sundays. However, attendance was often spottier than in a post-COVID classroom.</p>
<p>There are many reasons why this was the case. First, the cruelty of some Spaniards hardly made them attractive advertisements for Christianity. The <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/261052/a-short-account-of-the-destruction-of-the-indies-by-bartolome-de-las-casas-edited-and-translated-by-nigel-griffin-introduction-by-anthony-pagden/">legendary last words</a> of Hatüey, an Indigenous Taíno leader who led a rebellion in what is now Cuba, suffice to make the point.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570186/original/file-20240118-28-xind9y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A black and white drawing of a man being burned at a stake as a priest holds out a small crucifix to him." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570186/original/file-20240118-28-xind9y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570186/original/file-20240118-28-xind9y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=281&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570186/original/file-20240118-28-xind9y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=281&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570186/original/file-20240118-28-xind9y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=281&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570186/original/file-20240118-28-xind9y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=353&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570186/original/file-20240118-28-xind9y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=353&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570186/original/file-20240118-28-xind9y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=353&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bartolome de las Casas’ writings, such as his description of Hatuey’s execution, helped record colonizers’ violence against Indigenous people in the Americas.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://jcb.lunaimaging.com/luna/servlet/detail/JCB~1~1~4492~7050007:-Man-burned-at-the-stake-?qvq=q:hatuey;lc:JCBMAPS~2~2,JCB~3~3,JCBBOOKS~1~1,JCBMAPS~1~1,JCBMAPS~3~3,JCB~1~1&mi=1&trs=2">Courtesy of the John Carter Brown Library</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the moments before Hatüey was burned at the stake, a priest urged him to convert so that his soul would go to heaven. Hatüey asked if Spaniards went to heaven, too. When the priest responded that “the good ones do, (Hatüey) retorted, without need for further reflection, that if that was the case, then he chose to go to Hell to ensure that he would never again have to clap eyes on those cruel brutes.” </p>
<p>Bartolomé de las Casas, a 16th century missionary,
documented this incident <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/261052/a-short-account-of-the-destruction-of-the-indies-by-bartolome-de-las-casas-edited-and-translated-by-nigel-griffin-introduction-by-anthony-pagden/">to condemn the violence</a> of Spanish colonizers in the Americas.</p>
<p>Second, Indigenous spiritual practices got an unwitting boost from the pope himself. Paul III, pope from 1534-1549, conceded <a href="https://www.loc.gov/item/2021667590/">special religious exemptions</a> to Indigenous people in the Americas, since they were new converts, or “neophytes,” in the faith. Effectively, this status meant that they were forgiven for not observing all Catholic practices correctly – not celebrating all holidays, not fasting often, marrying cousins, and so on.</p>
<p>This somewhat flexible – but no less violent – approach to conversion meant that Indigenous spiritual practices often melded with Spanish ones. Perhaps the best example of this <a href="https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780195176322.001.0001/acref-9780195176322-e-1336">religious syncretism</a> is <a href="https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=1104">Our Lady of Guadalupe</a>, whom many Catholics revere as <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-virgin-of-guadalupe-is-more-than-a-religious-icon-to-catholics-in-mexico-151251">an apparition of the Virgin Mary</a>, including Indigenous Catholics. Yet many Indigenous people also <a href="https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tonantzin">identify Guadalupe with Tonantzin</a>. The word means “Our Mother” in Nahuatl, the language of the Mexica, and could refer to multiple goddesses.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570135/original/file-20240118-26-nn6aze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A wide, ornate golden frame surrounds an illustration of a woman in a blue cloak with a halo-like ring of light around her." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570135/original/file-20240118-26-nn6aze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570135/original/file-20240118-26-nn6aze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570135/original/file-20240118-26-nn6aze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570135/original/file-20240118-26-nn6aze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570135/original/file-20240118-26-nn6aze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570135/original/file-20240118-26-nn6aze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570135/original/file-20240118-26-nn6aze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An altar inside the Monastery of Santo Domingo de Guzman in Oaxaca, Mexico, depicts the Virgen of Guadalupe.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/our-lady-of-guadalupe-shrine-royalty-free-image/1207063275?phrase=virgen+de+guadalupe&searchscope=image%2Cfilm&adppopup=true">Gabriel Perez/Moment via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Third, as the <a href="https://www.slavevoyages.org/">transatlantic slave trade</a> intensified during the 16th century, spiritual systems from West and West-Central Africa entered the mix. For example, many Africans and their descendants used protective amulets <a href="https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/fc11/e548799876ee8da4c29c2dc6694c248f010a.pdf?_gl=1*k4basm*_ga*MTE1NDExODM4Ny4xNzA1NTI0MDYx*_ga_H7P4ZT52H5*MTcwNTUyNDA2MC4xLjEuMTcwNTUyNDA3NC40Ni4wLjA">called “nóminas</a>” and “<a href="https://academic.oup.com/jaar/article-abstract/88/2/460/5828949?redirectedFrom=fulltext&login=false">bolsas de mandinga</a>,” and they adapted African healing rituals and medical knowledge to New World environments.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the lesser-known <a href="https://theconversation.com/from-south-asia-to-mexico-from-slave-to-spiritual-icon-this-womans-life-is-a-snapshot-of-spains-colonization-and-the-pacific-slave-trade-history-that-books-often-leave-out-214692">transpacific slave trade</a> brought thousands of Asians to colonial Mexico and further complicated the religious landscape. My 2024 book, “<a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674271784">The First Asians in the Americas</a>,” demonstrates that Asians used a wide variety of beliefs and practices to navigate and even resist the conditions of their enslavement. They made potions, learned enchantments and even publicly renounced their faith in God, Jesus and the saints in order to call attention to unjust treatment.</p>
<h2>Paperwork and torture</h2>
<p>Spanish authorities were eager to clamp down on these spiritual beliefs and founded new branches of the <a href="https://www.fondodeculturaeconomica.com/Ficha/9786071631657/F">Inquisition in Lima and Mexico City</a> in the late 1500s. The Spanish Inquisition had been around for nearly a century by this point, policing the boundary between accepted and heretical Catholic practices and beliefs. </p>
<p>While the Inquisition in Europe is infamous for having tried and murdered thousands, the Inquisition in Mexico City reserved execution for only <a href="https://www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/10254/inquisition-new-spain-1536-1820">a few dozen cases</a>. Whippings, exiles, imprisonments and public shaming were the norm. Still, the United States carceral system <a href="https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/executions/executions-overview">executes more people every few years</a> than the Inquisition in Mexico did over more than two centuries. </p>
<p>Most Indigenous people were exempted from being denounced to the Inquisition, since they were considered Christian neophytes and prone to errors. However, Africans and Asians, as well as their descendants, people of mixed ethnicities, “Moriscos” (converted Muslims), “conversos” (converted Jews), Protestants and even Catholic Spaniards frequently ran afoul of inquisitors.</p>
<p>Inquisition trials generated mountains of paperwork, in part because scribes were obsessive in their thoroughness. Occasionally, they even recorded every exclamation a prisoner cried out in the Inquisition’s notorious <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt3fj6rt.15?seq=1">torture chambers</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570211/original/file-20240118-19-h4x8eb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The stone and brick facade of an old, two-story building on a street with tall streetlamps." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570211/original/file-20240118-19-h4x8eb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570211/original/file-20240118-19-h4x8eb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570211/original/file-20240118-19-h4x8eb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570211/original/file-20240118-19-h4x8eb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570211/original/file-20240118-19-h4x8eb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570211/original/file-20240118-19-h4x8eb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570211/original/file-20240118-19-h4x8eb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The facade of the colonial Palace of the Inquisition in Mexico City.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FacadeInquisDF.JPG">Thelmadatter/Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Today, these cases provide rare insights into the <a href="https://libros.uv.mx/index.php/UV/catalog/book/AB108">spiritual cultures</a> of colonial society’s most marginalized subjects. Non-Europeans were often accused of committing blasphemy and concocting love potions to seduce sailors, soldiers and merchants. They conducted rituals with hallucinogens such as peyote to find stolen objects and lost people. They fashioned charms to shield friends, family and clients from harm.</p>
<p>Though Spaniards punished divination and other unapproved practices, it wasn’t because they considered such rituals pointless or ineffective. Quite the opposite: They believed that they worked but were powered by the devil, and were therefore a force of evil.</p>
<h2>Spiritual mosaic</h2>
<p>One of the most enigmatic cases <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674271784">I have written about</a> is that of an enslaved South Asian man from Malabar, in southern India, named Antón. In 1652, he appeared before the Inquisition in Mexico City for the “spiritual crimes” of palm reading and divination. He was 65 years old and lived in one of the textile mills infamous for its poor working conditions in Coyoacán, just south of the city. </p>
<p>According to multiple witnesses, Antón attracted a large, multiethnic clientele who sometimes traveled a day in each direction to ask him their pressing questions about the future. By reading palms, Antón would predict “if (someone) would find love, when a baby would be born, if a woman would become a nun, and so on.” Each consultation earned him a few coins, which he split with two weavers who translated from Spanish into Nahuatl for him.</p>
<p>When the inquisitors questioned him, Antón claimed to have learned how to read palms in Malabar and insisted that he had done nothing wrong. In all, divination was not considered as serious a religious infraction as, say, practicing Judaism or Islam, so Antón was condemned to the relatively light punishment of proclaiming his sins publicly after 245 days in prison.</p>
<p>Inquisitorial records from the colonial period are filled with vibrant characters like Antón. There was <a href="https://uncpress.org/book/9781469609751/domingos-alvares-african-healing-and-the-intellectual-history-of-the-atlantic-world/">Domingos Álvares</a>, who became a renowned healer in Brazil, and <a href="https://uncpress.org/book/9781469630878/the-experiential-caribbean/">Antonio Congo</a>, who was said to control storms in what is now Colombia.</p>
<p>They created worlds of knowledge and faith often out of alignment with the strictures of Catholic doctrine. Many of these beliefs have persisted against the odds, surviving into the present. For example, <a href="https://doi.org/10.18574/nyu/9780814722343.003.0005">the Afro-Cuban Santería, Palo Monte</a>, <a href="https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/ifa-divination-system-00146">Ifá</a> and other religions are <a href="https://cuba.miami.edu/arts-culture/afro-cuban-religion-surviving-and-thriving-underground/index.html">thriving in Cuba today</a> despite centuries of discrimination and repression.</p>
<p>Labeling Latin America and its colonial period uniformly “Catholic” silences this rich history. There were, of course, thousands of Catholics in the colonies, and Catholicism was a central tenet of Spanish colonialism. But that is not the full story: Other beliefs thrived and became new realities of colonial life.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214691/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Diego Javier Luis does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Conversion was often a violent affair, but that doesn’t mean it was 100% successful. Colonial Latin America was home to many different spiritual traditions from Indigenous, African and Asian cultures.
Diego Javier Luis, Assistant Professor of History, Tufts University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/220911
2024-01-12T20:28:23Z
2024-01-12T20:28:23Z
How Ecuador went from being Latin America’s model of stability to a nation in crisis
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568975/original/file-20240111-15-p90s4s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=36%2C85%2C8142%2C5371&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Ecuador looks set to entrust its anti-gang fight to the military.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/military-elements-guard-the-car-with-president-of-ecuador-news-photo/1915341584?adppopup=true">Franklin Jacome/Agencia Press South/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://english.elpais.com/international/2023-08-13/once-ecuador-was-a-peaceful-country-now-it-is-one-of-the-regions-most-violent.html">Ecuador was until relatively recently</a> seen as <a href="https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Ecuador-on-Track-to-Become-the-Safest-Country-in-Latin-America-20150621-0009.html">one of the safest countries</a> in Latin America.</p>
<p>That reputation has surely now been destroyed.</p>
<p>On Jan. 9, 2024, images of hooded <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/09/ecuador-gangs-wave-terror-state-of-emergency">gunmen storming a TV studio</a> were broadcast around the world. It was one of a number of violent incidents that took place that day, including <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/09/world/americas/ecuador-gang-prison-emergency.html">prison riots, widespread hostage-taking</a>, the <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/seven-police-kidnapped-in-ecuador-as-president-declares-security-emergency-101704828141894.html">kidnapping of several police officers</a> and a <a href="https://crisis24.garda.com/alerts/2024/01/ecuador-criminal-groups-launch-attacks-jan-9-following-declaration-of-state-of-emergency-and-curfew-update-3">series of car explosions</a>.</p>
<p>I have been <a href="https://pir.fiu.edu/people/faculty-a-z/eduardo-gamarra1/eduardo-gamarra.html">tracking how gang crime has affected states in Latin America</a> for 38 years. When I started, few would have projected that Ecuador would descend into the crisis it finds itself today. But the story of Ecuador reflects a wider story of how countries across Latin America have struggled with organized crime and transnational drug gangs and how they have responded.</p>
<p>Ecuador now looks set to follow the recent <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/09/19/bukele-salvador-gang-crackdown/">path of El Salvador under President Nayib Bukele’s leadership</a> in trying to crack the gang problem through the use of military and the suspension of democratic norms. In the aftermath of the Jan. 9 violence, Ecuadorean President Daniel Noboa named 22 gangs as terrorist organizations – a designation that makes them legitimate military targets. He has also <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-67930452">imposed a 60-day state of emergency</a>, during which Ecuadorians will be subject to curfews while armed forces try to restore order in the streets and the country’s gang-controlled prisons.</p>
<h2>Ecuador: Victim of geography</h2>
<p>To understand why Ecuador has become the epicenter of gang violence, you need to understand both the geography and history of Latin America’s drug trade.</p>
<p><iframe id="NQYh1" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/NQYh1/2/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Ecuador, a nation of 18 million people, is situated between Colombia in the north and Peru in the east and south. Colombia and Peru are the <a href="https://www.barrons.com/news/colombia-sets-new-cocaine-production-record-un-832dac7c">two top producers of cocaine in the world</a>. Further, Ecuador has a near-1,400 mile (2,237-kilometer) coastline through which drugs from the continent can be <a href="https://insightcrime.org/investigations/ecuador-a-cocaine-superhighway-to-the-us-and-europe/">taken to markets in Europe and the United States</a>.</p>
<p>But it wasn’t until the <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/ecuador-war-on-drugs">U.S.-led “war on drugs</a>” put the squeeze on cartels in other countries that Ecuador became the preserve of narco gangs.</p>
<h2>Plan Colombia</h2>
<p>In the 1980s and 1990s, Colombia was the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199366439.013.504">center of the international illegal drug trade</a>. This is hardly surprising, given that it was the <a href="https://www.unodc.org/pdf/andean/Andean_report_Part4.pdf">top producer of coca leaves</a>.</p>
<p>But beginning in 2000, a joint initiative between Colombian authorities and the U.S., known as <a href="https://www.americasquarterly.org/fulltextarticle/plan-colombia-a-retrospective/">Plan Colombia</a>, <a href="https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R43813">pumped billions</a> of dollars into an effort to clamp down on the Colombian cocaine trade.</p>
<p>While it may have been successful in <a href="https://www.usglc.org/media/2017/04/USGLC-Plan-Columbia.pdf">supressing drug cartels</a> in Colombia itself, it has had a balloon effect elsewhere in the region: Squeeze in one place, the bulge appears elsewhere.</p>
<p>In this case, it was Mexico’s cartels that “bulged” first. Over the past decade, there has been a <a href="https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/mexicos-long-war-drugs-crime-and-cartels">massive growth in Mexican cartels</a>, led by the Sinaloa cartel and the Jalisco Nueva Generación, or Jalisco New Generation. In fact, a study last year found that Mexican cartels were in effect the country’s <a href="https://www.science.org/content/article/cutting-cartel-recruitment-could-be-only-way-reduce-mexico-s-violence">fifth-largest employer</a>.</p>
<p>These cartels came to dominate the illegal drug trade in Latin America, not just for cocaine, but also the trafficking of heroin and more lately fentanyl. Aligning themselves with <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/5/12/terrifying-days-of-terror-under-colombias-gulf-clan-cartel">Clan Del Golfo</a> – a Colombian paramilitary organization formed from the remnants of the gangs dismantled under joint Colombian-U.S. operations – the cartels helped traffic drugs through Ecuador and out of South America.</p>
<p>They were joined by European gangs, <a href="https://www.americasquarterly.org/article/ecuadors-crime-wave-and-its-albanian-connection/">notably from Albania</a>, who began to show up in Ecuador.</p>
<p>The impact locally of these outside gangs has been disastrous for Ecuador.</p>
<h2>Prior immunity</h2>
<p>European and Mexican organizations ran local operatives as enforcers and transporters. And these are the people who have become the backbone of Ecuador’s gang problem today.</p>
<p>Ecuadorian gangs such as <a href="https://insightcrime.org/news/rise-fall-choneros-ecuador-drug-trafficking-pioneers/">Los Choneros</a> developed as a de facto subsidiary of the Sinaloa and other cartels. The <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/americas/20240111-what-we-know-about-fito-ecuador-s-notorious-gang-leader-who-escaped-jail">escape from jail</a> of Los Choneros’ leader, Jose Adolfo Macias, on Jan. 7, 2024, set off the latest explosion of violence. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man stands with his hands cuffed behind his back. Two men stand either side of him." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568973/original/file-20240111-23-10j7t3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568973/original/file-20240111-23-10j7t3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568973/original/file-20240111-23-10j7t3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568973/original/file-20240111-23-10j7t3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568973/original/file-20240111-23-10j7t3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568973/original/file-20240111-23-10j7t3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568973/original/file-20240111-23-10j7t3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Police officers arrest a gunman who burst into a studio of the state-owned TC television.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/police-officers-arrest-one-of-the-unidentified-gunmen-who-news-photo/1913161165?adppopup=true">STR/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But Ecuador’s descent into violence and chaos has also been aided by the very fact that for so long it was immune from the worst of the gang violence of the region.</p>
<p>For many years, Ecuador had <a href="https://www.economist.com/the-americas/2024/01/10/how-ecuador-became-latin-americas-deadliest-country">one of the lowest homicide rates</a> in Latin America – an indicator of low gang activity. As a result, it hadn’t developed a robust police and military response to gangs. Ecuador, in comparison to Colombia, El Salvador and other countries, was seen as a “soft touch” to organized crime bosses. </p>
<p>This became ever more the case in 2009 when former President Rafael Correa <a href="https://en.mercopress.com/2009/09/19/last-us-forces-abandon-manta-military-base-in-ecuador">closed down the U.S. air base in Manta</a>, from where American AWAC surveillance planes had been monitoring and trying to disrupt drug trafficking.</p>
<h2>Militarizing the response</h2>
<p>Explaining how Ecuador became the epicenter of drug gang violence is one thing. Trying to find a way out for the country now is another.</p>
<p>Across Latin America, countries have employed different models to counter organized crime, with varying degrees of success. Colombia, with extensive U.S. assistance, transformed its military and police and went to war with the cartels. The strategy somewhat successfully dismantled organized crime groups in the country, even if it failed to halt drug trafficking itself or lower the high levels of <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/06/08/us-war-drugs-helped-unleash-violence-colombia-today/">violence in Colombia</a>.</p>
<p>Mexican authorities have tried a different approach and have been reluctant to confront the country’s drug cartels head-on. Instead, Mexico has employed a more hands-off approach, allowing drug gangs to essentially govern their states – the state of Sinaloa is <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/articles/how-the-sinaloa-cartel-rules/">run largely by the cartel</a> that shares its name. </p>
<p>Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has touted this “<a href="https://www.cfr.org/blog/amlos-hugs-not-bullets-failing-mexico">hugs not bullets</a>” approach, but under it the power of the cartels <a href="https://cbsaustin.com/news/nation-world/mexican-cartels-grow-in-power-and-influence-with-calls-to-change-tactics-in-fighting-back-kidnapping-killings-murders-homicides-matamoros-border-crisis">has only grown</a>.</p>
<p>And then there is the Salvadoran model.</p>
<p>For many years, El Salvador suffered from organized crime, with the <a href="https://www.bloomberglinea.com/english/who-are-the-maras-the-gangs-that-el-salvador-and-honduras-are-waging-war-against/">Maras gang</a> behind much of the country’s violence. Then in 2019 the electorate voted in Nayib Bukele on a law-and-order platform. Since then, he has <a href="https://insightcrime.org/news/gamechangers-2022-el-salvador-gang-crackdown-steep-human-rights-cost/">militarized the country</a>, adopted draconian security measures and <a href="https://apnews.com/article/el-salvador-prison-gangs-bukele-42315f24691e0a3136d005ab7c0bee6a">jailed some 72,000 alleged gang members</a>, often without due process.</p>
<p>As a result, El Salvador is now perceived as <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/09/25/el-salvador-crime-human-rights-prisons/">one of the safest places</a> in Latin America. This has been achieved at the expense of human rights, critics say. But, nonetheless, Bukele’s methods have enormous popular appeal.</p>
<h2>Path of El Salvador</h2>
<p>With an unprecedented wave of violence in Ecuador, it looks like President Noboa is looking to take his country down the same path as El Salvador. He has ordered the Ecuadorian military to “<a href="https://www.france24.com/en/americas/20240109-gunmen-burst-into-ecuador-tv-studio-threaten-journalists-live-on-air">neutralize” the criminal gangs</a> that operate in the country.</p>
<p>Whether the approach will work is another matter; Ecuador is in a weaker position than El Salvador.</p>
<p>Whereas many of the gangs were imported into El Salvador – many members of Maras had been deported from the U.S. – in Ecuador, they are homegrown and have become more sophisticated. Further, Noboa – despite taking office in December – has only 15 months of his presidency left before a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/20/world/americas/ecuador-election-assassination-explainer.html">general election takes place in May 2025</a>. </p>
<p>Yet, the adoption of Bukele’s methods might be seen as an election winner.</p>
<p>Like in El Salvador, the majority of Ecuador’s citizens appear ready for an iron fist approach to counter the gangs – even at the expense of some civil liberties. If you speak to the average Ecuadorian, many would no doubt tell you that talk of human rights violations is bogus at a time when they live under the fear of being murdered simply by leaving their homes.</p>
<p>As one man <a href="https://apnews.com/article/ecuador-violence-prisons-television-studio-gangs-72a3df45debae4459663c462304bcf91">told The Associated Press</a> in the aftermath of Jan. 9’s violence, the government needs to employ “a firmer hand, to have no mercy, no tolerance or (respect for) the human rights of criminals.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220911/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Eduardo Gamarra has received funding from foundations, US government agencies, multilateral organizations and private donors. </span></em></p>
Widespread violence tied to Ecuadorian drug gangs has left the country looking at a draconian response.
Eduardo Gamarra, Professor of Politics and International Relations, Florida International University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/214692
2024-01-08T13:35:06Z
2024-01-08T13:35:06Z
From South Asia to Mexico, from slave to spiritual icon, this woman’s life is a snapshot of Spain’s colonization – and the Pacific slave trade history that books often leave out
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/567986/original/file-20240105-21-aftxx8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=26%2C291%2C2583%2C3402&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Catarina was revered in Puebla, Mexico – but devotion to her attracted Catholic authorities' disapproval after her death.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Image from the collections of the Biblioteca Nacional de España</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Jan. 5, 2024, marked 336 years since the passing of an extraordinary woman you have probably never heard of: Catarina de San Juan.</p>
<p>Her life reads like an epic. Born in South Asia during the early 17th century, she was captured by the Portuguese at age 8 and sold to Spaniards in the Philippines. Spanish merchants then <a href="https://historicas.unam.mx/publicaciones/publicadigital/libros/prodigios_catarina/tomo01.html">traded her across the Pacific to Mexico</a>, where she became a free woman and a spiritual icon, famous in the city of Puebla for her devotion to Catholicism. As <a href="https://as.tufts.edu/history/people/faculty/diego-luis">a scholar of colonial Latin America</a>, I believe she deserves to become a household name for anyone with even a passing interest in Asian American history or the history of slavery.</p>
<p>Catarina was one of the first Asians in the Americas – a focus of <a href="https://facultyprofiles.tufts.edu/diego-luis/publications">my historical research</a>, and <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674271784">the title of my recent book</a> – and arrived through a little-known slave trade that crossed the Pacific Ocean. In colonial Mexico, she lived in the “<a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/23055341?seq=1">nideaquínideallá</a>,” the “neither-from-here-nor-from-there”: a valley between acceptance and foreignness, an in-between state familiar to many migrants today.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A faded brown and tan map showing the Americas, Pacific Ocean and East and Southeast Asia." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568051/original/file-20240105-17-np0o2t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568051/original/file-20240105-17-np0o2t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=287&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568051/original/file-20240105-17-np0o2t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=287&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568051/original/file-20240105-17-np0o2t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=287&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568051/original/file-20240105-17-np0o2t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=361&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568051/original/file-20240105-17-np0o2t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=361&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568051/original/file-20240105-17-np0o2t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=361&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A map of ship routes across the Spanish Empire by 16th century cartographer Juan Lopez de Velasco.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://jcb.lunaimaging.com/luna/servlet/detail/JCBMAPS~1~1~1100~102700001:-Demarcacion-y-nauegaciones-de-Yndi?qvq=q:juan%20lopez%20de%20velasco;lc:JCBMAPS~1~1,JCB~3~3,JCBBOOKS~1~1,JCBMAPS~3~3,JCBMAPS~2~2,JCB~1~1&mi=35&trs=56">Courtesy of the John Carter Brown Library</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The Life of Catarina</h2>
<p>The particulars of Catarina’s journey are quite unfamiliar, even for those who study the history of slavery. </p>
<p>Most people have heard of the <a href="https://www.slavevoyages.org/">transatlantic slave trade</a>, which lasted from the early 16th century to the mid- to late 19th century. It was responsible for the violent displacement of some 12.5 million Africans to the Americas.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/asian-slaves-in-colonial-mexico/1136CF8D42E50A4F5BA6DF10C091F6ED">transpacific slave trade</a>, on the other hand, remains largely unknown. From the late 16th to early 18th centuries, Spaniards forced some <a href="https://libros.colmex.mx/tienda/la-migracion-asiatica-en-el-virreinato-de-la-nueva-espana-un-proceso-de-globalizacion-1565-1700/">8,000-10,000 captives</a> onto rickety galleons, where they would endure a six-month odyssey from the Philippines to Mexico. The enslaved captives came from South, Southeast and East Asia, as well as East Africa. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/567787/original/file-20240103-15-qqsxu6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A faded illustration of a green area by the sea, with a larger tree in the right foreground." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/567787/original/file-20240103-15-qqsxu6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/567787/original/file-20240103-15-qqsxu6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567787/original/file-20240103-15-qqsxu6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567787/original/file-20240103-15-qqsxu6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567787/original/file-20240103-15-qqsxu6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=669&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567787/original/file-20240103-15-qqsxu6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=669&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567787/original/file-20240103-15-qqsxu6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=669&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A painting of Acapulco port in present-day Mexico, where many ships carrying slaves landed, in 1628.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Puerto_de_Acapulco_Boot_1628.png">Adrian Boot/Benson Latin American Collection, University of Texas at Austin/Wikimedia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>After her capture, Catarina – whose name at birth was Mirra – <a href="https://historicas.unam.mx/publicaciones/publicadigital/libros/prodigios_catarina/tomo01.html">was taken to Kochi, India</a>, where she was baptized and received her Christian name. Later, in Manila, a young Spaniard stabbed and beat her within an inch of her life when she refused his advances. In her words, “Only the divine majesty knows what I went through.”</p>
<p>She only ended up on a galleon destined for Mexico because Captain Miguel de Sosa desired the service of a “chinita,” or little Asian girl. Yet he quickly realized that Catarina had uncommon virtues when she showed little regard for money or objects of material value. Sosa freed Catarina in his will.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/567782/original/file-20240103-29-y1kbqs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A white stone church tower against an azure sky." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/567782/original/file-20240103-29-y1kbqs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/567782/original/file-20240103-29-y1kbqs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=957&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567782/original/file-20240103-29-y1kbqs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=957&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567782/original/file-20240103-29-y1kbqs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=957&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567782/original/file-20240103-29-y1kbqs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1203&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567782/original/file-20240103-29-y1kbqs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1203&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567782/original/file-20240103-29-y1kbqs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1203&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Catarina’s burial place in Puebla, Mexico.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/fa%C3%A7ade-tower-church-of-la-compania-puebla-mexico-royalty-free-image/1207400074?phrase=catarina+de+san+juan&searchscope=image%2Cfilm&adppopup=true">bpperry/iStock via Getty Images Plus</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For the next six decades, she led a life of social isolation, abstinence, humility and rejection of material pleasures – what her admirers saw as an exemplary life of holy Catholic suffering. She lived entirely on charitable offerings and, according to <a href="https://repositorio.unam.mx/contenidos/compendio-de-la-vida-y-virtudes-de-la-venerable-catharina-de-san-juan-36?c=4yKEMp&d=false&q=*:*&i=1&v=1&t=search_0&as=0">one Jesuit observer</a>, wore only a “dark, wool dress” with “the crudest, the coarsest” cloak. Her modest lodgings were “filled with filthy critters.” </p>
<p>And she prayed. She prayed for water in drought, for Indigenous people dying of famine and disease, for ships lost at sea, for travelers braving the roads. She prayed for those who needed help the most.</p>
<p>Even as Catarina gained renown, some Spaniards questioned the sincerity of her devotion. Throughout Catarina’s life, detractors described her as a “trickster,” “a witch,” “untamed” and “unknowable,” while Spanish allies viewed her as evidence that all the world could be converted to Catholicism.</p>
<p>The Catholic priest who regularly heard her confessions was a Jesuit named Alonso Ramos. After Catarina died, he authored an enormous <a href="https://historicas.unam.mx/publicaciones/publicadigital/libros/prodigios_catarina/tomo01.html">three-volume biography</a> of her life, the longest text ever published in colonial Mexico. </p>
<p>Ramos turned an unlikely subject – a formerly enslaved South Asian woman – into a superhero of the colonial world. Catarina’s portrait, which appeared in Ramos’ first volume, became <a href="https://academic.oup.com/book/25562">a popular relic</a>, and followers in Puebla converted her humble bedroom into an altar where Catholics could pray for her divine favor.</p>
<h2>Historical amnesia</h2>
<p>Why, then, do few people know about Catarina today?</p>
<p>The answer is twofold. First, <a href="https://historicas.unam.mx/publicaciones/publicadigital/libros/prodigios_catarina/tomo01.html">Ramos’ text</a> was considered controversial outside of Puebla because it depicted Catarina with powers reserved only for God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. He describes her announcing prophecies, performing miracles, traveling in her dreams and regularly conversing with Jesus, whom she considered her celestial husband. </p>
<p>In short, Ramos had committed blasphemy. The <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195157239.003.0003">Inquisitions of Spain and Mexico</a> censored and burned his volumes shortly after publication. Inquisitors ended all devotion to Catarina’s image and took down the makeshift altar in her room.</p>
<p>Over time, the memory of the real Catarina morphed into something entirely different. Spaniards sometimes called her a “china,” the word colonists in Mexico used to refer to <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674271784">any Asian subject</a>. Today, though, the phrase “china poblana” – the Asian woman from Puebla – refers to <a href="https://theautry.org/exhibitions/story-china-poblana">a popular, coquettish style of Mexican dress</a>, with a patterned skirt, white blouse and shawl. </p>
<p>Virtually nothing about Catarina’s life has been preserved in the modern “china poblana,” which was invented in the 19th century. In fact, it connotes sexual confidence and national pride, two concepts that Catarina would have likely rejected.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/567775/original/file-20240103-25-yu1gq8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A painting of three women in full, brightly colored skirts standing by a doorway, as a man leans over on the side." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/567775/original/file-20240103-25-yu1gq8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/567775/original/file-20240103-25-yu1gq8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567775/original/file-20240103-25-yu1gq8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567775/original/file-20240103-25-yu1gq8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567775/original/file-20240103-25-yu1gq8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567775/original/file-20240103-25-yu1gq8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567775/original/file-20240103-25-yu1gq8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Poblanas,’ by Carl Nebel.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Poblanas.jpg">María del Carmen Vázquez Mantecón/Wikimedia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Second, the field of Asian American history has been hesitant to peer south of the U.S. border, despite several <a href="https://uncpress.org/book/9780807854488/at-americas-gates/">noteworthy efforts</a>. Many people in the U.S. remain unaware that many Asian people live in Latin America and the Caribbean – indeed, that they have lived there for centuries longer than in the United States. Asians had been <a href="https://aeon.co/essays/asians-were-visiting-the-west-coast-of-america-in-1587">coming and going from the Americas</a> for over 200 years by the time the U.S. Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776.</p>
<p>Today, significant Asian populations inhabit nearly all Latin American and Caribbean nations, mostly due to later waves of immigration <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/OBO/9780199730414-0294">and indentured servitude</a>. Brazil hosts the largest number of Japanese and Japanese descendants outside of Japan at around <a href="https://www.mofa.go.jp/region/latin/brazil/data.html">2 million</a>, and <a href="https://uncpress.org/book/9781469607139/chinese-cubans/">the Chinatown in Havana, Cuba</a>, was once the largest in the Americas. Indo-Caribbean people are the first- or second-largest group on many Caribbean islands, including Trinidad and Tobago and Grenada.</p>
<p>Catarina de San Juan and the first Asians in the Americas challenge the traditional timeline and geography of Asian American history. Their stories also capture what many people who end up in the Americas have faced: the trauma of displacement.</p>
<p>As Catarina coped with the harsh realities of her new life, she once <a href="https://historicas.unam.mx/publicaciones/publicadigital/libros/prodigios_catarina/tomo01.html">told Ramos</a> that she frequently saw her parents in her spiritual visions. Sometimes, they were in purgatory, where Catholics believe their souls are purified before they can enter heaven. However, she most often envisioned them coming “in the company of the ship from the Philippines to the port of Acapulco, from where, on their knees, they came into my presence.” </p>
<p>Her pain and longing for a stolen family, a lost youth and a hazily remembered homeland were those of generations of Asian captives taken to the Americas. I believe that her extraordinary life merits long-overdue recognition.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214692/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Diego Javier Luis does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Accounts of Asian American history often stop at the US border, but Asians were living in Latin America for centuries before the Declaration of Independence.
Diego Javier Luis, Assistant Professor of History, Tufts University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/219781
2023-12-19T19:33:29Z
2023-12-19T19:33:29Z
Joel Roberts Poinsett: Namesake of the poinsettia, enslaver, secret agent and perpetrator of the ‘Trail of Tears’
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566077/original/file-20231215-25-a398jx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1023%2C80%2C4967%2C3907&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Joel Roberts Poinsett is given credit for bringing the popular red and green plant to the U.S.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/close-up-of-poinsettia-flower-royalty-free-image/1188012230?phrase=poinsettia&adppopup=true">Constantine Johnny/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>If people know the name Joel Roberts Poinsett today, it is likely because of the <a href="https://www.postandcourier.com/features/poinsettias-christmas-classic-south-carolina-history/article_47939016-8dfb-11ee-9a7f-0b56456cf49b.html">red and green poinsettia</a> plant.</p>
<p>In the late 1820s, while serving as the first ambassador from the U.S. to Mexico, Poinsett clipped samples of the plant known in Spanish as the “flor de nochebuena,” or flower of Christmas Eve, from the Mexican state of Guerrero. He then <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/12/23/conspiracy-fueled-origin-christmas-poinsettia/">introduced it</a> to the U.S. on a trip home from Mexico.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://blogs.loc.gov/loc/2021/12/poinsettia-how-a-u-s-diplomat-made-a-mexican-flower-an-international-favorite/">plant has been named poinsettia</a> ever since. </p>
<p>But much like the history of the U.S., Poinsett had a complex and troubling past. </p>
<p>An ambitious politician, financial investor and enslaver, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Joel-R-Poinsett">Poinsett was a secret agent</a> for the U.S. government in South America who fought for the Chilean army against Spain during Chile’s War for Independence in the early 1800s. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="A white man is wearing a cloak on his shoulders as he poses for a black-and-white portrait." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566089/original/file-20231215-16097-flqh2m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566089/original/file-20231215-16097-flqh2m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=817&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566089/original/file-20231215-16097-flqh2m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=817&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566089/original/file-20231215-16097-flqh2m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=817&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566089/original/file-20231215-16097-flqh2m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1026&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566089/original/file-20231215-16097-flqh2m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1026&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566089/original/file-20231215-16097-flqh2m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1026&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Joel Roberts Poinsett served as U.S. secretary of war from 1837 to 1841.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/poinsett-secretary-of-war-news-photo/1371420766?adppopup=true">HUM Images/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A confidant of President Andrew Jackson, Poinsett also served as U.S. secretary of war under President Martin Van Buren and oversaw the ignominy of the <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4h1567.html">Trail of Tears</a>, the forced relocation and deadly march of Cherokee people from the South to reservations in the West during the 1830s.</p>
<p>And yet Poinsett, an avid botanist who brought scores of other plants to the U.S., also helped found an organization that led to the creation of the <a href="https://www.si.edu/about">Smithsonian Institution</a>.</p>
<h2>A privileged life</h2>
<p>I came across his history almost by accident. I am a historian of capitalism in early America, and while I was on a research fellowship for my first book, “<a href="https://www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/12030/manufacturing-advantage">Manufacturing Advantage: War, the State, and the Origins of American Industry</a>,” another researcher suggested I go to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania to check out the papers of a few War Department officials. Poinsett was one of those officials. </p>
<p>There, I found a large collection of his letters and other personal papers that spanned five decades of his life. I became so fascinated with his life that I decided to write a book about him. <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/F/bo206811148.html">I detail</a> his complicated life in another book, “Flowers, Guns, and Money: Joel Roberts Poinsett and the Paradoxes of American Patriotism.”</p>
<p>Born and raised in Charleston, South Carolina, on March 2, 1779, Poinsett was the son of a wealthy doctor and lived a life of privilege. He traveled throughout Europe and Russia in his early 20s before starting a military career.</p>
<p>In the 1810s, Poinsett traveled around South America as a secret agent of the U.S. State Department. His intelligence reports led in part to the drafting of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Monroe-Doctrine">Monroe Doctrine</a>. </p>
<p>That doctrine, written by Secretary of State <a href="https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-resources/spotlight-primary-source/monroe-doctrine-1823">John Adams</a> and buried in <a href="https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/monroe-doctrine#:%7E:text=President%20James%20Monroe's%201823%20annual,nations%20of%20the%20Western%20Hemisphere.">President James Monroe’s address</a> to Congress on Dec. 2, 1823, sought to prevent European colonization in South America and, in essence, claimed the entire Western Hemisphere for the U.S. </p>
<p>The doctrine also set the stage for two centuries of rocky relations between the U.S and Latin America.</p>
<p>In 1825, the Monroe administration appointed Poinsett as the <a href="https://diplomacy.state.gov/events-listing/minister-poinsett/">nation’s first ambassador</a> to Mexico. He arrived there in the spring of that year and almost immediately instigated a general distrust of American interference. He used his connections to secure favorable plots of land for himself and his friends and established <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/3338598">a U.S.-based mining company</a> to exploit Mexican resources for his own benefit.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An America soldier stands behind a fence with his thumb on his nose as two soldiers try to climb over the obstacle." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566401/original/file-20231218-19-k36ngi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566401/original/file-20231218-19-k36ngi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566401/original/file-20231218-19-k36ngi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566401/original/file-20231218-19-k36ngi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566401/original/file-20231218-19-k36ngi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566401/original/file-20231218-19-k36ngi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566401/original/file-20231218-19-k36ngi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A 1902 caricature of England and Germany trying to overcome the Monroe Doctrine.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/caricature-of-england-and-germany-responding-to-the-news-photo/3305759?adppopup=true">Hulton Archive/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It was on a trip to assess the profitability of some mines, in fact, that Poinsett admired the red and green plant and cut clippings to send to horticulturalists in the U.S. Exactly where and how these clippings were made and sent is not quite clear, but he remarked on the beauty of the plants he saw, which Franciscan friars in Mexico had been displaying at Christmas since the 1600s. </p>
<p>Several prominent horticulturalists in the United States later reported that <a href="https://www.axios.com/2022/12/13/poinsettia-flower-christmas-holiday-sales-history">Poinsett sent them plant samples</a>. By the mid-1830s, agricultural reports described a plant with brilliant scarlet foliage, “lately referred to as the poinsettia,” as having been introduced by Poinsett in 1828. </p>
<h2>Poinsett’s Latin America meddling</h2>
<p>That same year, Poinsett also supported a coup in Mexico City. </p>
<p>During the Mexican presidential campaign in 1829, Poinsett supported <a href="https://www.mexconnect.com/articles/268-vicente-guerrero-a-study-in-triumph-and-tragedy-1782-1831/">Vicente Guerrero</a>, whom he saw as more amenable to his and U.S. financial interests. When Guerrero lost to moderate <a href="https://www.caller.com/story/news/columnists/2017/07/31/presidents-mexican-texas-1824-1836/526986001/">Manuel Gómez Pedraza</a>, Guerrero staged a coup with Poinsett’s approval that forced Gómez Pedraza to flee Mexico.</p>
<p>Because of Poinsett’s poor conduct during the election, the Mexican government requested Poinsett’s removal from his post. President Andrew Jackson instead <a href="https://www.stateoftheunionhistory.com/2018/10/1829-andrew-jackson-recalling-joel.html">allowed Poinsett</a> to resign.</p>
<p>Poinsett left Mexico and went back home to South Carolina.</p>
<p>On Oct. 24, 1833, at 54 years old, Poinsett married a 52-year-old, wealthy widow from South Carolina who owned a rice plantation and almost 100 enslaved people. </p>
<p>Though he wrote that he enjoyed married plantation life, he was not done with politics or the military. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="A gray-haired white man sits in a chair with his right hand underneath his dark jacket." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566398/original/file-20231218-23-uqnnpb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566398/original/file-20231218-23-uqnnpb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=833&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566398/original/file-20231218-23-uqnnpb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=833&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566398/original/file-20231218-23-uqnnpb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=833&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566398/original/file-20231218-23-uqnnpb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1047&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566398/original/file-20231218-23-uqnnpb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1047&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566398/original/file-20231218-23-uqnnpb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1047&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A portrait of Andrew Jackson in 1830.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/andrew-jackson-the-8th-president-of-the-united-states-news-photo/3087913?adppopup=true">MPI/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In 1837, Poinsett was named U.S. secretary of war and oversaw the execution of Jackson’s <a href="https://history.state.gov/milestones/1830-1860/indian-treaties">1830 Indian Removal Act</a> that the Cherokee people referred to as the <a href="https://www.nps.gov/articles/trailoftears.htm#:%7E:text=Guided%20by%20policies%20favored%20by,Southeast%20in%20the%20early%201800s.">Trail of Tears</a>. That act saw the violent displacement of members of the Cherokee, Muscogee, Seminole, Chickasaw and Choctaw nations from their homelands in the South to reservations in the West.</p>
<h2>The creation of the Smithsonian</h2>
<p>Based on his travels and experiences around the world, Poinsett believed that the U.S. should have a national museum to conduct scientific research and display the expanding government collections, including plant specimens. </p>
<p>In his retirement, Poinsett <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/a-smithsonian-holiday-story-joel-poinsett-and-the-poinsettia-3081111/">helped found</a> in 1840 and became president of the <a href="https://siarchives.si.edu/collections/siris_arc_217217">National Institute for the Promotion of Science and the Useful Arts</a>.</p>
<p>That organization <a href="https://siarchives.si.edu/collections/siris_sic_469">later became part of</a> the Smithsonian Institution, whose gardens now showcase thousands of poinsettias during the Christmas season. </p>
<p>Poinsett died on Dec. 12, 1851.</p>
<p>It remains unclear how long the plant that bears his name will remain known as the poinsettia. After years of controversy, the American Ornithological Society announced that it was going to remove all human names from as many as <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-dozens-of-north-american-bird-species-are-getting-new-names-every-name-tells-a-story-217886">152 bird species</a>, including those linked to people with racist histories or people who have done violence to Indigenous communities. </p>
<p>Though no attempts as yet have emerged to rename plants, it’s my belief that Poinsett’s poinsettia may be the first.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/219781/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lindsay Schakenbach Regele receives funding from Miami University and the Kluge Center.</span></em></p>
Much like the history of the US, Joel Roberts Poinsett, after whom the poinsettia is named, had a complicated and troubling history.
Lindsay Schakenbach Regele, Assistant Professor of History, Miami University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/213633
2023-12-08T17:59:39Z
2023-12-08T17:59:39Z
Viva Guadalupe! Beyond Mexico, the Indigenous Virgin Mary is a powerful symbol of love and inclusion for millions of Latinos in the US
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563435/original/file-20231204-19-x0bvex.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C13%2C2986%2C1980&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Archbishop of Los Angeles Jose H. Gomez stands with people celebrating the Virgin of Guadalupe's feast day in 2022.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/CaliforniaDailyLifeLadyofGuadalupeLosAngeles/cf7e9e11e0fb4ab9aea57b8a3b6ed4bb/photo?Query=guadalupe%20virgin&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=1025&currentItemNo=62">AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Dec. 12 is a special day for millions of Catholics around the world, especially those of Mexican descent. Known as el Dia de la Virgen Guadalupe, it is a popular feast day that celebrates the Virgin of Guadalupe: a brown-skinned, Indigenous <a href="https://theconversation.com/vatican-centralizes-investigations-on-claims-of-virgin-mary-apparitions-but-local-catholics-have-always-had-a-say-204611">vision of Mary</a> that Catholics believe appeared to a peasant in 1531.</p>
<p>The story of Guadalupe’s appearances is recounted in <a href="https://www.nypl.org/events/exhibitions/galleries/belief/item/5559">a text called the Nican Mopohua</a>, which means “Here It Is Told” in Nahuatl, an Aztec language. The Nican Mopohua describes Jesus’ mother appearing multiple times to <a href="https://www.vatican.va/news_services/liturgy/saints/ns_lit_doc_20020731_juan-diego_en.html">Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin</a>, an Indigenous convert to Catholicism, about a decade after the <a href="https://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/teaching-resources-for-historians/teaching-and-learning-in-the-digital-age/the-history-of-the-americas/the-conquest-of-mexico/for-students/what-the-textbooks-have-to-say-about-the-conquest-of-mexico">Spanish had conquered Aztec Mexico</a>. After her fourth and final apparition to Diego, Catholics believe that her image imprinted onto his cactus-fiber robe, known as a “tilma.”</p>
<p>As <a href="https://clas.uiowa.edu/religion/people/kristy-nabhan-warren">a scholar of Catholicism</a>, I have long been fascinated by the adoration of the Virgin Mary. Often seen as a symbol of inclusive love, the Virgin of Guadalupe has become especially beloved <a href="https://www.store.tsehaipublishers.com/product_info.php/religion-spirituality/american-woman-p-204">by migrants and Latinos in the U.S.</a>, who view her as a protector.</p>
<p>Over the past 20 years, <a href="https://nyupress.org/9780814758250/the-virgin-of-el-barrio/">research on Guadalupe</a> has brought me to deeply moving shrines in her honor in the United States: candle-filled, flower-laden places, from South Phoenix, Arizona, to Columbus Junction, Iowa, from Catholic parishes to family homes and yards.</p>
<h2>Miraculous cloak</h2>
<p>According to the original story of Guadalupe, the Virgin provided Juan Diego with Spanish roses – a type not grown in Mexico – to convince Archbishop Juan de Zumárraga that the apparitions were real. After seeing the roses, and the transformation of Juan Diego’s humble cloak into a holy relic, he declared the apparitions miraculous and built a chapel to honor la Virgen.</p>
<p>The original chapel, <a href="https://mexicocity.cdmx.gob.mx/venues/old-parish-church-of-the-indians/?lang=es">the Capilla de Indios</a>, where Juan Diego lived for the rest of his life, still stands in Mexico City. It is flanked by a museum, a Carmelite convent, the Old Basilica – built to honor la Virgen – and the modern one, where the famous cloak has hung since 1976. </p>
<p>Millions of people – Catholic and non-Catholic, Latino and non-Latino – <a href="https://apnews.com/article/religion-mexico-pandemics-covid-2254c4d0ed206e5f245ddb2275d5459e">have made pilgrimages</a> to the shrine to pray, to give thanks and to pay respects to this Indigenous manifestation of the Virgin. Affectionately called “la Virgencita,” she is depicted as a symbol of motherhood, care and concern for her children.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563447/original/file-20231204-29-iolfko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman holds a brightly colored poster of a man holding a picture of the Virgin Mary as she waits in a crowd in a concrete plaza." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563447/original/file-20231204-29-iolfko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563447/original/file-20231204-29-iolfko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563447/original/file-20231204-29-iolfko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563447/original/file-20231204-29-iolfko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563447/original/file-20231204-29-iolfko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563447/original/file-20231204-29-iolfko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563447/original/file-20231204-29-iolfko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A woman displays a poster of Juan Diego during an outdoor Mass in Los Angeles on July 31, 2002, the day Pope John Paul II canonized him in Mexico.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/woman-displays-a-poster-of-juan-diego-during-a-mass-at-the-news-photo/51681990?adppopup=true">Hector Mata/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While some scholars question <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Mexican_Phoenix.html?id=Q9_OP2FIUGQC">the historical veracity</a> of the Nican Mopohua, the Catholic Church has approved the story of the apparitions. Pope John Paul II named the Virgin of Guadalupe “<a href="https://www.usccb.org/news/2022/feast-our-lady-guadalupe-us-bishops-migration-chairman-reaffirms-churchs-solidarity">Patroness of the Americas</a>” and “Star of the New Evangelization” in 1999, indicating her central role in spreading Catholic Christianity in the Americas. </p>
<p>In 2002, <a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/homilies/2002/documents/hf_jp-ii_hom_20020731_canonization-mexico.html">John Paul II canonized Juan Diego</a> as the first Indigenous North American Catholic saint, with his own feast day on Dec. 9.</p>
<h2>La Virgen Morena</h2>
<p>The official sanctioning of the apparitions certainly has contributed to Guadalupe’s popularity. Yet it is her humble origins and relatability that have made adoration for the Virgin endure.</p>
<p>Specifically, it is <a href="https://www.bc.edu/bc-web/centers/church21/publications/c21-resources/c21-resources-articles/TheFaceofOurLadyofGuadalupe.html">la Virgencita’s Indigenous origins</a> – a “morena,” as Spanish speakers refer to a woman with dark hair and dark skin. Unlike other famous apparitions of the Virgin Mary, most of which describe her as looking white and European, la Virgen represents Meso-Americans’ rich heritage, recognizing the dignity of non-European cultures.</p>
<p>As the scholar of religion <a href="https://www.amherst.edu/people/facstaff/lbarba">Lloyd Barba</a> <a href="https://www.fordhampress.com/9781531504885/american-patroness/">has written</a>, “For centuries now, Guadalupe has represented Mexicans’ mythologized histories of race, peoplehood, and nation.” <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1999/03/10/us/eric-r-wolf-76-an-iconoclastic-anthropologist.html">The folklorist Eric Wolf</a> considered Guadalupe <a href="https://mymission.lamission.edu/userdata/etherism/docs/121%20HW2.Guadalupe.pdf">a “master symbol</a>,” something that “enshrines the major hopes and aspirations of an entire society.”</p>
<p>Today, <a href="https://www.store.tsehaipublishers.com/product_info.php/religion-spirituality/american-woman-p-204#!tab2">the special connection</a> between Latinos and Guadalupe taps into the vexed, violent history of the U.S.-Mexico borderlands. A colonized people, many Mexicans have long rallied around la Virgen in times of distress and need, and her image has been <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/537957">a unifying symbol</a> during wars and revolutions. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.loc.gov/item/today-in-history/september-16/">Father Miguel Hidalgo</a>, a leader of the 1810 Mexican War of Independence, paraded banners with la Virgen’s image. So did the revolutionary Emiliano Zapata and his band of reformers <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/537957">during the 1910 Mexican Revolution</a>.</p>
<p>And among many Latinos, whether practicing Catholics or not, she is believed to be a mother <a href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-may-27-ca-2979-story.html">who loves her children, no matter what</a>: a woman who stands by them whether they are poor, rich, single, married, queer or straight.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563456/original/file-20231204-17-vpjopl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A handful of men in white attire walk down a city street carrying a banner with a faded picture of a woman in a blue cloak." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563456/original/file-20231204-17-vpjopl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563456/original/file-20231204-17-vpjopl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563456/original/file-20231204-17-vpjopl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563456/original/file-20231204-17-vpjopl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563456/original/file-20231204-17-vpjopl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=519&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563456/original/file-20231204-17-vpjopl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=519&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563456/original/file-20231204-17-vpjopl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=519&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Runners in a Mexico-to-New York relay race carry a painting of the Virgen de Guadalupe during a procession in 2012.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/NYAntorchaGuadalupana/b12f81250cc94dfbb3d4783d93e925d8/photo?Query=guadalupe%20virgin%20migrant&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=22&currentItemNo=20">AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Beloved, both sides of the border</h2>
<p>Dec. 12 is a joyful day, with traditional Mexican foods and music.</p>
<p>A large statue of la Virgen is carried through the streets, and “<a href="https://omnesmag.com/en/newsroom/world/america-latina/matachines/">los Matachines” dancers</a> wear gorgeous Indigenous garb as they honor her, marking the day as sacred. Whether you visit Chicago, Phoenix or West Liberty, Iowa, you will find a communitywide celebration of Guadalupe, open to all.</p>
<p>Painted murals of Guadalupe brighten concrete and stuccoed buildings across the U.S., and <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/20615685">little home shrines called “altarcitos</a>” feature small statues of la Virgen, Jesus and a panoply of saints, along with candles and photographs of family members, both living and departed.</p>
<p>Indeed, la Guadalupe is a powerful master symbol of a woman who gives hope, love and assurance – especially to those who feel marginalized or oppressed.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213633/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kristy Nabhan-Warren does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
The famous apparition of the Virgin Mary has come to symbolize Mexico, but other groups – particularly migrants and Latinos north of the border – also feel a special connection to Guadalupe.
Kristy Nabhan-Warren, Associate Vice President of Research, University of Iowa
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/213717
2023-11-13T13:29:12Z
2023-11-13T13:29:12Z
Mexico will soon elect its first female president – but that landmark masks an uneven march toward women’s rights
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558364/original/file-20231108-15-sy1yyd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=38%2C38%2C8588%2C5703&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Claudia Sheinbaum, the favorite to become Mexico's first female president.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/MexicoElections/72c870d1426245e9b5acff64d1d0eef5/photo?Query=Sheinbaum&mediaType=photo&sortBy=creationdatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=211&currentItemNo=3">AP Photo/Marco Ugarte</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://theconversation.com/mexico-elegira-pronto-a-su-primera-presidenta-pero-este-hito-oculta-una-marcha-desigual-hacia-los-derechos-de-la-mujer-217642"><em>Leer en español.</em></a> </p>
<p>Mexico will <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/07/americas/mexico-female-candidates-presidential-election-intl/index.html">elect its first female president</a> in 2024, barring any surprises between now and the June vote. </p>
<p>The looming landmark moment was all but guaranteed in September after the country’s leading parties each nominated a woman as its candidate – the ruling Morena party <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/mexicos-ruling-party-name-presidential-candidate-with-sheinbaum-favorite-2023-09-06/#:%7E:text=%22Today%20the%20Mexican%20people%20decided,purple%20color%20of%20her%20party.">named former Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum</a> as its nominee days after the main opposition coalition, Broad Front for Mexico, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/mexico-politics-elections-2024-xochitl-galvez-nominee-8df70cef1f5e9ee242d495570578d5ed">announced Xóchitl Gálvez</a>, a senator for the center-right National Action Party, as its own.</p>
<p>But as <a href="https://www.uta.edu/academics/faculty/profile?username=vidalxm">scholars who study politics</a> <a href="https://cchambersju-research.uta.edu/">and gender in Mexico</a>, we know that optics are one thing, actual power another. Seventy years after <a href="https://doi.org/10.1215/00182168-45.1.164">women won the right to vote</a> in Mexico, is the country moving any closer to making changes that would give women real equality?</p>
<h2>Uneven fight for gender equality</h2>
<p>Women now <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/09/07/mexico-women-gender-parity/">represent half of Congress</a>, after electoral reforms nearly a decade ago mandated gender parity in nominations to Mexico’s legislatures. And two women, Ana Lilia Rivera and Marcela Guerra Castillo, occupy the top posts in both chambers of Congress. Meanwhile, Norma Lucía Piña is the <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/mexico-s-supreme-court-elects-first-female-chief-justice-/6901488.html">first woman to serve as chief justice</a> of Mexico’s Supreme Court. </p>
<p>But electing women to high office doesn’t necessarily shift power in meaningful ways. It’s what experts on women in politics call “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.013.1978">descriptive representation</a>” – when political leaders resemble a group of voters but fail to set policies designed to protect them. In contrast, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/14789299231154864">substantive representation</a>” occurs when officials enact laws that truly benefit the groups that they claim to represent.</p>
<p>Scholars who study the difference between the two, including <a href="https://polsci.umass.edu/people/sonia-e-alvarez">Sonia Alvarez</a>, <a href="https://polisci.unm.edu/people/faculty/profile/mala-htun.html">Mala Htun</a> and <a href="https://www.oxy.edu/academics/faculty/jennifer-piscopo">Jennifer Piscopo</a>, have found that wins in public spheres, such as the right to vote or hold office, have rarely led to progress for women in private spaces – such as the right to reproductive freedom or protections against domestic violence.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman holds a green flare during a street protest." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558365/original/file-20231108-25-j6vxc6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558365/original/file-20231108-25-j6vxc6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558365/original/file-20231108-25-j6vxc6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558365/original/file-20231108-25-j6vxc6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558365/original/file-20231108-25-j6vxc6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558365/original/file-20231108-25-j6vxc6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558365/original/file-20231108-25-j6vxc6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Members of feminist organizations demonstrate in favor of the decriminalization of abortion in Mexico City on Sept. 28, 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/members-of-feminist-organizations-demonstrate-in-favour-of-news-photo/1696063220?adppopup=true">Photo by Silvana Flores/AFP via Getty Images)</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In other words, Mexico may have surpassed many countries – including the U.S. – in promoting women to political leadership positions, but it still hasn’t shed its <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-36324570">stigma of machismo</a> and its <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/articles/mexico-takes-another-step-toward-its-authoritarian-past/">history of authoritarianism</a>.</p>
<p>In the 1990s, a <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/politics-and-gender/article/abs/regionalizing-womens-human-rights-in-latin-america/8469F364E098DD1D8CF3088CC58BC86B">resurgent feminist movement</a> throughout Latin America led to major breakthroughs in women’s rights. By the end of the decade, many countries had passed legislation against gender-based violence and reforms requiring gender quotas in party nomination lists. In the past 17 years, seven women have been elected president across Central and South America. </p>
<p>Yet the fight for gender equality has advanced unevenly. Mexico is a country still rattled by <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/stories/2023/07/were-here-tell-it-mexican-women-break-silence-over-femicides">high rates of femicide</a>. Government data shows that, on average, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/mexico-caribbean-gender-6594c9b2c9ea39a52dc3204e16be704c"> 10 women and girls are killed every day</a> by partners or family members.</p>
<h2>Government accused of harassment</h2>
<p>During his term, the current president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, and his party, Morena, have been accused of downplaying the extent of the femicide crisis, with at least one critic claiming he’s “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/31/world/americas/violence-women-mexico-president.html">the first president to outright deny</a>” the violence. </p>
<p>Rather, López Obrador has used his daily “mañanera” news conference to issue <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/7/14/mexico-president-continues-attacks-on-opposition-despite-order">verbal assaults against women</a> in office, including 2024 nominee Gálvez. In July 2023, the independent <a href="https://www.wilsoncenter.org/article/mexicos-national-electoral-institute-explainer">National Electoral Institute</a> found López Obrador guilty of targeting Gálvez in derogatory statements related to her gender. </p>
<p>López Obrador has also denounced Supreme Court chief justice Piña in what Mexico’s National Association of Judges <a href="https://www.facebook.com/jufed.org/photos/a.119395656264809/742860923918276/?type=3">has described as hate speech</a> and the federal judiciary condemned as “<a href="https://twitter.com/SCJN/status/1637968261143986176?s=20">gender-based violence</a>” and hatred against her. His statements at <a href="https://apnews.com/article/mexico-lopez-obrador-politics-rally-elections-5160cbaf5ccd453f7333d651e41b79dd">a rally in March</a> incited his followers to burn <a href="https://cdn.jwplayer.com/previews/JNtltrZs">Piña in effigy</a>, prompting critics to suggest that such attacks don’t simply reflect López Obrador’s distaste for checks and balances, but <a href="https://www.nycbar.org/member-and-career-services/committees/reports-listing/reports/detail/second-statement-condemning-the-mexican-presidents-attacks-on-judicial-independence#_ftn14">aim to undermine women</a> in positions of power.</p>
<h2>Mexico’s patronage politics</h2>
<p>Observers view <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/mexicos-sheinbaum-favorite-win-presidential-nomination-poll-shows-2023-09-05/">current 2024 front-runner</a> Sheinbaum as López Obrador’s handpicked successor: He has publicly endorsed her, and she has vowed to continue his “fourth transformation,” a campaign promise to end government corruption and reduce poverty that’s had <a href="https://elpais.com/mexico/2022-02-22/la-fiscalia-abre-una-investigacion-por-el-caso-del-hijo-de-lopez-obrador-y-un-contratista-de-pemex.html">mixed results</a>. </p>
<p>Sheinbaum’s record as mayor of Mexico City has been equally mixed. She has publicly described herself as a <a href="https://www.capital21.cdmx.gob.mx/noticias/?p=3084">feminist</a> and has <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/mexican-mayor-doubles-down-accusation-alleged-femicide-cover-up-2023-01-17/">criticized</a> state prosecutors for covering up the killing of Ariadna Lopez, a 27-year-old woman. At the same time, Sheinbaum <a href="https://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/mayor-apologizes-to-protesters/">attempted to criminalize participants</a> of a mass protest against the thousands of women who’ve disappeared in recent years, claiming that these demonstrations were violent.</p>
<p>Political scientists have shown that even when the faces of politics change, the operatives behind the scenes can stay the same – especially in Mexico, where political parties are <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/voting-for-autocracy/F6671D230EC7C458A30035ADB20F9289">mired in patronage politics</a> – when party leaders reward loyalty by deciding who gets to run for office and who gets to keep their jobs when the government is handed over to a new administration.</p>
<p>If Sheinbaum is elected, she’ll likely still be beholden to the Morena coalition and will rely to a large degree on López Obrador to help push through her policies. </p>
<h2>A feminist future?</h2>
<p>Both Sheinbaum and Gálvez have <a href="https://gatopardo.com/noticias-actuales/claudia-sheinbaum/">championed women</a> and shared their <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/08/20/mexico-presidential-elections-galvez-interview/">experiences as women</a> on the campaign trail. But, so far, neither has signaled that her legislative agendas would advance the interests of women through policies, such as expanding access to health care or fighting for family leave and equal pay in the workplace. </p>
<p>As criticism of López Obrador has overshadowed Sheinbaum’s campaign, we believe she faces a greater challenge in convincing voters of her commitment to women’s rights. </p>
<p>While Gálvez’s path to the presidency is narrow, her ability to advocate for a pro-women agenda seems more plausible. She has publicly supported <a href="https://www.newindianexpress.com/world/2023/jul/08/although-she-is-now-aligned-with-the-conservative-opposition-galvezs-record-is-one-of-a-liberal-an-2592712.html">LGBTQ+ rights in Mexico</a> even as a member of the conservative National Action Party, suggesting she’s capable of speaking and acting independently of party leadership when it matters. </p>
<p>Aside from front-line politics, women’s rights in Mexico have moved forward when leaders have committed to substantive change.</p>
<p>Notably, Mexico’s Supreme Court under Pinã has declared all federal and state laws <a href="https://elpais.com/mexico/2023-01-05/el-empuje-de-la-nueva-presidenta-norma-pina-a-la-agenda-feminista-de-criticar-la-violencia-obstetrica-a-defender-el-aborto.html">prohibiting abortion unconstitutional</a>. When Piña took office, she <a href="https://elpais.com/mexico/2023-01-05/el-empuje-de-la-nueva-presidenta-norma-pina-a-la-agenda-feminista-de-criticar-la-violencia-obstetrica-a-defender-el-aborto.html?event=go&event_log=go&prod=REGCRARTMEX&o=cerrmex">promised to take on women’s rights</a> in her agenda. So far, she’s delivered.</p>
<p>If either presidential candidate hopes to have similar success, they’ll need to follow Pinã’s lead by centering their platforms around the issues that most affect women in their day-to-day lives, beginning with rising femicide rates. Women may be gaining political power in Mexico, but the question now is whether they’ll use it to fight for the women they represent.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213717/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Women represent half of Mexico’s Congress and hold key positions in politics and the judiciary. But the country is still dogged by high rates of femicide.
Xavier Medina Vidal, Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of the Center for Mexican American Studies, University of Texas at Arlington
Christopher Chambers-Ju, Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Texas at Arlington
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/217147
2023-11-07T13:36:33Z
2023-11-07T13:36:33Z
Acapulco was built to withstand earthquakes, but not Hurricane Otis’ destructive winds – how building codes failed this resort city
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557873/original/file-20231106-267225-w11vn6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C16%2C3593%2C2246&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Acapulco's beachfront condo towers were devastated by Hurricane Otis.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/aerial-view-of-damages-caused-by-the-passage-of-hurricane-news-photo/1750791993">Rodrigo Oropeza/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Acapulco wasn’t prepared when Hurricane Otis struck as a powerful Category 5 storm on Oct. 25, 2023. The short notice as the <a href="https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/news/hurricane-otis-causes-catastrophic-damage-acapulco-mexico">storm rapidly intensified</a> over the Pacific Ocean wasn’t the only problem – the Mexican resort city’s buildings weren’t designed to handle anything close to Otis’ 165 mph winds.</p>
<p>While Acapulco’s oceanfront high-rises were built to withstand <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/strong-quake-rocks-mexicos-acapulco-damaging-airport-killing-one-2021-09-08/">the region’s powerful earthquakes</a>, they had a weakness. </p>
<p>Since powerful hurricanes are <a href="https://coast.noaa.gov/hurricanes">rare in Acapulco</a>, Mexico’s <a href="https://www.gob.mx/cms/uploads/attachment/file/247555/300617_EvaluacionEstructuras_02-Viento.pdf">building codes didn’t require</a> that their exterior materials be able to hold up to extreme winds. In fact, those materials were often kept light to help meet earthquake building standards.</p>
<p>Otis’ powerful winds ripped off exterior cladding and shattered windows, exposing bedrooms and offices to the wind and rain. The storm <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/death-toll-from-hurricane-otis-hits-48-with-36-missing-as-search-and-recovery-continues">took dozens of lives</a> and caused <a href="https://www.reinsurancene.ws/corelogic-pegs-hurricane-otis-insurable-loss-at-10bn-to-15bn/">billions of dollars in damage</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A large glass tower with sloping sides, like a sliced egg, reflects the sunrise with the Pacific Ocean looking placid in the background." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557814/original/file-20231106-17-xzhpml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557814/original/file-20231106-17-xzhpml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557814/original/file-20231106-17-xzhpml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557814/original/file-20231106-17-xzhpml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557814/original/file-20231106-17-xzhpml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557814/original/file-20231106-17-xzhpml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557814/original/file-20231106-17-xzhpml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A US$130 million luxury condo building on the beach in Acapulco before Hurricane Otis struck on Oct. 25, 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Hamid Arabzadeh, PhD., P.Eng.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A stormy sky shows through the floors that were once apartments." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557815/original/file-20231106-19-vbqly2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557815/original/file-20231106-19-vbqly2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557815/original/file-20231106-19-vbqly2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557815/original/file-20231106-19-vbqly2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557815/original/file-20231106-19-vbqly2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557815/original/file-20231106-19-vbqly2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557815/original/file-20231106-19-vbqly2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The same Acapulco condo tower after Hurricane Otis.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Hamid Arabzadeh, PhD., P.Eng.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I have worked on engineering strategies to enhance disaster resilience for over three decades and recently wrote a book, “<a href="https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781633888234/The-Blessings-of-Disaster-The-Lessons-That-Catastrophes-Teach-Us-and-Why-Our-Future-Depends-on-It">The Blessings of Disaster</a>,” about the gambles humans take with disaster risk and how to increase resilience. Otis provided a powerful example of one such gamble that exists when building codes rely on probabilities that certain hazards will occur based on recorded history, rather than considering the severe consequences of storms that can devastate entire cities.</p>
<h2>The fatal flaw in building codes</h2>
<p>Building codes typically provide “<a href="https://asce7hazardtool.online/">probabilistic-based” maps</a> that specify wind speeds that engineers must consider when designing buildings. </p>
<p>The problem with that approach lies in the fact that “probabilities” are simply the odds that extreme events of a certain size will occur in the future, mostly calculated based on past occurrences. Some models may include additional considerations, but these are still typically anchored in known experience. </p>
<p>This is all good science. Nobody argues with that. It allows engineers to design structures in accordance with a consensus on what are deemed acceptable <a href="https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-19-1347-2019">return periods</a> for various hazards, referring to the likelihood of those disasters occurring. Return periods are a somewhat arbitrary assessment of what is a reasonable balance between minimizing risk and keeping building costs reasonable.</p>
<p>However, <a href="https://www.structuremag.org/?p=13360">probabilistic maps</a> only capture the odds of the hazard occurring. A <a href="https://hazards.atcouncil.org/">probabilistic map</a> might specify a wind speed to consider for design, irrespective of whether that given location is a small town with a few hotels or a megapolis with high-rises and complex urban infrastructure. In other words, probabilistic maps do not consider the consequences when an extreme hazard exceeds the specified value and “all hell breaks loose.”</p>
<h2>How probability left Acapulco exposed</h2>
<p>According to the Mexican building code, hotels, condos and other commercial and office buildings in Acapulco must be <a href="https://www.gob.mx/cms/uploads/attachment/file/247555/300617_EvaluacionEstructuras_02-Viento.pdf">designed to resist 88 mph winds</a>, corresponding to the strongest wind likely to occur on average once every 50 years there. That’s a Category 1 storm.</p>
<p>A 200-year return period for wind is used for essential facilities, such as hospital and school buildings, <a href="https://www.gob.mx/cms/uploads/attachment/file/247555/300617_EvaluacionEstructuras_02-Viento.pdf">corresponding to 118 mph winds</a>. But over a building’s life span of, say, 50 years, that still leaves a 22% chance that winds exceeding 118 mph will occur (yes, the world of statistics is that sneaky). </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557871/original/file-20231106-15-ffcd7l.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A map of the Mexico area with lots of storm tracks offshore and a few crossing land in the southern part of the country." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557871/original/file-20231106-15-ffcd7l.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557871/original/file-20231106-15-ffcd7l.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557871/original/file-20231106-15-ffcd7l.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557871/original/file-20231106-15-ffcd7l.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557871/original/file-20231106-15-ffcd7l.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=575&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557871/original/file-20231106-15-ffcd7l.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=575&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557871/original/file-20231106-15-ffcd7l.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=575&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mexico’s hurricane history in storm tracks.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://coast.noaa.gov/hurricanes/#map">NOAA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557869/original/file-20231106-19-jxgqql.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A map of the Acapulco area with lots of storm tracks offshore and a few crossing land." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557869/original/file-20231106-19-jxgqql.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557869/original/file-20231106-19-jxgqql.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557869/original/file-20231106-19-jxgqql.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557869/original/file-20231106-19-jxgqql.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557869/original/file-20231106-19-jxgqql.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=537&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557869/original/file-20231106-19-jxgqql.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=537&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557869/original/file-20231106-19-jxgqql.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=537&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A century of hurricane storm tracks near Acapulco show several offshore storms that brought strong winds and rain to the city, but few direct landfalls. Acapulco Bay is in the center of the map on the coast. Red, pink and purple lines are categories 3, 4 and 5, respectively.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://coast.noaa.gov/hurricanes/#map">NOAA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The probability wind maps for both return periods show Acapulco experiences lower average wind speeds than much of the 400 miles of Mexican coast north of the city. Yet, Acapulco is a major city, with a metropolitan population of over 1 million. It also has <a href="https://skyscraperpage.com/cities/?cityID=586&offset=100&statusID=1">more than 50 buildings</a> taller than 20 stories, according to the SkyscraperPage, a database of skyscrapers, and it is the only city with buildings that tall along that stretch of the Pacific coast.</p>
<p>Designing for a 50-year return period in this case is questionable, as it implies a near 100% chance of encountering wind exceeding this design value for a building with a 50-year life span or greater. </p>
<h2>Florida faces similiar challenges</h2>
<p>The shortcomings of probabilistic-based maps that specify wind speeds have also been observed in the United States. For example, new buildings along most of Florida’s coast must be able to <a href="https://www.flrules.org/gateway/readRefFile.asp?refId=13160&filename=Florida_Building_Code_7thEdition_1609_3_Tables.pdf">resist 140 mph winds</a> or greater, but there are a few exceptions. One is the Big Bend area where <a href="https://www.tampabay.com/hurricane/2023/09/02/map-idalia-flooding-big-bend-surge/">Hurricane Idalia made landfall</a> in 2023. Its design wind speed is about 120 mph instead.</p>
<p>A <a href="https://codes.iccsafe.org/content/FLBC2023P1/chapter-16-structural-design#FLBC2023P1_Ch16_Sec1609">2023 update to the Florida Building Code</a> raised the minimum wind speed to approximately 140 mph in Mexico Beach, the Panhandle town that was <a href="https://mexicobeachfl.gov/uploads/2022/06/Wind-load-Ordinance-21919.pdf">devastated by Hurricane Michael</a> in 2018. The Big Bend exception may be the next one to be eliminated.</p>
<h2>Acapulco’s earthquake design weakness</h2>
<p>A saving grace for Acapulco is that it is located in one of <a href="https://mexicodailypost.com/2021/04/19/earthquake-map-30-of-mexico-under-high-seismic-risk/">Mexico’s most active seismic risk zones</a> – for example, a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/09/07/world/mexico-earthquake">magnitude 7 earthquake struck nearby in 2021</a>. As a result, the lateral-load-resisting structural systems in tall buildings there are designed to resist seismic forces that are generally larger than hurricane forces.</p>
<p>However, a drawback is that the larger the mass of a building, <a href="https://www.wbdg.org/resources/seismic-design-principles">the larger the seismic forces</a> the building must be designed to resist. Consequently, light materials were typically used for the cladding – the exterior surface of the building that protects it against the weather – because that translates into lower seismic forces. This light cladding was not able to withstand hurricane-force winds.</p>
<p>Had the cladding not failed, the full wind forces would have been transferred to the structural system, and the buildings would have survived with little or no damage.</p>
<h2>A ‘good engineering approach’ to hazards</h2>
<p>A better building code could go one step beyond “good science” probabilistic maps and adopt a “<a href="https://michelbruneau.com/TheBlessingsOfDisaster.htm">good engineering approach</a>” by taking stock of the consequences of extreme events occurring, not just the odds that they will.</p>
<p>In Florida, the incremental cost of designing for wind speeds of 140 mph rather than 120 mph is marginal compared to total building cost, given that cladding able to resist more than 140 mph is already used in nearly all of the state. In Acapulco, with the spine of buildings already able to resist earthquake forces much larger than hurricane forces, designing cladding that can withstand stronger hurricane-level forces is likely to be an even smaller percentage of total project cost.</p>
<p>Someday, the way that design codes deal with extreme events such as hurricanes, not only in Mexico, will hopefully evolve to more broadly account for what is at risk at the urban scale. Unfortunately, as I explain in “<a href="https://michelbruneau.com/TheBlessingsOfDisaster.htm">The Blessings of Disaster</a>,” we will see more extreme disasters before society truly becomes disaster resilient.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217147/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michel Bruneau does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
The best science is not always the best engineering when it comes to building codes. It’s also a problem across the US, as an engineer who works on disaster resilience explains.
Michel Bruneau, Professor of Engineering, University at Buffalo
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/214928
2023-11-05T13:01:57Z
2023-11-05T13:01:57Z
Unpacking Elon Musk’s convoluted U.S.-Mexico border visit
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557510/original/file-20231103-17-agxdj5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C67%2C680%2C438&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Elon Musk and Texas congressman Tony Gonzales stand in front of a group of South American migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://twitter.com/TonyGonzales4TX/status/1708142923626209519">(Twitter/Tony Gonzales)</a></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/unpacking-elon-musks-convoluted-us-mexico-border-visit" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>In late September, Elon Musk, the tech billionaire behind Tesla and SpaceX, set the internet ablaze with his visit to the Texas-Mexico border to provide what he called an “<a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/us/why-did-elon-musk-visit-texas-mexico-border-and-what-did-he-say-about-the-migrants/articleshow/104034433.cms?from=mdr">unfiltered</a>” perspective on the border crisis as <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/migrants-cross-into-texas-undeterred-by-razor-wire-or-new-asylum-rules-2023-09-28/">thousands of migrants</a>, mostly from Venezuela, crossed the Rio Grande River.</p>
<p><a href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1707565081750290910?s=20">In a video at Eagle Pass, Texas</a>, Musk calls for a “greatly expanded legal immigration system” that would welcome “hard-working and honest” people and “<a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1707525800830828619?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1707525800830828619%7Ctwgr%5E3df67ff84fb408e2c51eceefcad89b5db37b30d0%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailysignal.com%2F2023%2F09%2F29%2Felon-musk-visits-eagle-pass-livestreams-real-story-of-whats-happening-at-southern-border%2F">not let anyone in the country who is breaking the law</a>.”</p>
<p>Many were quick to highlight the absurdity of the world’s richest person, who is himself an immigrant, standing before a group of other immigrants calling for stricter policies. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1708283629665927576"}"></div></p>
<h2>Pro-immigrant but anti-asylum?</h2>
<p>Musk’s position on immigration appears convoluted. On the one hand, he says he is “<a href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1707525800830828619?s=20">extremely pro-immigrant</a>,” given he is an immigrant to the United States himself. This also makes sense from the perspective of his businesses, which rely on <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/n7z5px/twitter-employees-on-visas-cant-just-quit">highly skilled migrant workers</a>.</p>
<p>While Musk said he supports legal immigration, he said the U.S. should “not be allowing people in the country if they are breaking the law.” A day before his visit to the border, Musk <a href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1707146779894951982?s=20">tweeted</a> support for a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-trump-wall-us-mexico-border-2023-9">Trump-style wall</a> to securitize the border. He implied that asylum seekers were entering without evidence to support their claims and they could “literally Google to know exactly what to say” to border officers.</p>
<p>Musk’s peddling of right wing anti-refugee rhetoric isn’t surprising, but the misinformation shared in Musk’s self-proclaimed “unfiltered” video may inadvertently bolster border militarization, increased repatriations and the criminalization of vulnerable asylum seekers. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1707565081750290910"}"></div></p>
<p>For example, during Musk’s border visit, congressman Tony Gonzales shares an anecdote about an asylum seeker he saw that had teardrop tattoos on their face. Musk calls this person a “serial murderer and proud of it” and made the leap that America has become the place people “go to escape the law.” </p>
<p>This kind of language plays into tropes that paint immigrants as dangerous and criminal. However, research has demonstrated that immigrants are not more likely to commit crimes. <a href="https://www.newsnationnow.com/us-news/immigration/u-s-citizens-most-likely-to-commit-crimes-than-immigrants/">Research from 2022</a> found U.S. citizens are more than two times more likely to be arrested for a violent crime than undocumented immigrants. </p>
<p>In the video, Gonzales claimed there has been zero repatriation. However, <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-border-doesnt-need-elon-musks-citizen-journalism">3.6 million people who have crossed into the U.S. illegally have been repatriated</a> since Biden took office. Soon after Musk’s visit, Biden announced that the <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/us-resume-direct-deportation-flights-venezuelan-migrants-rcna119107">U.S. was resuming direct repatriation flights for Venezuelans</a> who unlawfully cross the border and have no legal basis to stay. </p>
<h2>An open border for all of Earth?</h2>
<p>The most troubling and sensationalist claim that Musk makes is that the U.S. southern border is an “<a href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1707565081750290910?s=20">open border for all of earth…an open border to 8 billion</a>.” Not only is this statement far from the truth, it plays into tropes that immigrants and refugees from the Global South are invading western countries. </p>
<p>It’s a dramatic misconception of the realities of global migration and displacement. The vast majority of refugees are hosted by countries in the Global South. </p>
<p>For example, displacement from <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/immigration-venezuela-refugee-crisis-us-border-policies/?fbclid=IwAR0qEfobBJ98gamFou7F0KpdQMo0XvcXivdfeccOs5NGC6-22oxyYbNnplI">Venezuela is now the largest refugee crisis</a> in the world, outpacing refugees from Ukraine and Syria. Of the <a href="https://www.r4v.info/es/refugiadosymigrantes">7.7 million displaced</a>, 85 per cent have moved to neighbouring Latin American countries. Only around <a href="https://www.r4v.info/es/refugiadosymigrantes">700,000 are in the U.S. under temporary protection status</a>, which is only nine per cent of the total displaced population. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1707146779894951982"}"></div></p>
<p>The claim that the U.S. border is open “for all of earth” is plainly wrong, and gives the U.S. credit for what has been a Latin American-led humanitarian response to the Venezuelan crisis. </p>
<p>Musk has been criticized for meddling in international affairs, most recently the <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2022/10/21/23415242/elon-musk-starlink-ukraine-dod-twitter-david-sacks-russia">Ukraine war</a>. He has <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1576969255031296000?">tweeted a peace proposal</a>, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/03/19/elon-musk-ukraine-starlink/">provided</a> then <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/09/07/ukraine-rips-musk-disrupting-sneak-attack-russian-navy.html">shut off Starlink’s satellite</a> network over Crimea and <a href="https://twitter.com/panoparker/status/1318157559266762752">seemingly supported</a> a U.S.-backed coup in Bolivia.</p>
<p>And we are seeing the implications for his misinformation at the border impact the lives of people seeking asylum in the U.S. being portrayed as “serial murderers” and “breaking the law.” As Musk wades into yet another political issue, it is crucial for the public to get their information from credible news sources and research, not billionaires on Twitter.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214928/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Yvonne Su does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Elon Musk’s visit to the U.S.-Mexico border played into false tropes that paint asylum seekers as dangerous criminals.
Yvonne Su, Assistant Professor in the Department of Equity Studies, York University, Canada
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/216562
2023-10-30T16:58:07Z
2023-10-30T16:58:07Z
Extreme weather is outpacing even the worst-case scenarios of our forecasting models
<p>In the wake of the destructive Hurricane Otis, we find ourselves at a pivotal moment in the history of weather forecasting. The hurricane roared ashore with 165mph winds and torrential rainfall, slamming into the coastal city of Acapulco, Mexico and claiming the lives of <a href="https://apnews.com/article/mexico-hurricane-otis-acapulco-50eb6a8fe677455428cbacfd3966e72c">at least 48 people</a>. </p>
<p>The speed at which Otis intensified was unprecedented. Within 12 hours it went from a regular tropical storm to a “category 5” hurricane, the most powerful category and one which might occur only a few times worldwide each year. </p>
<p>This rare and alarming event, described by the US National Hurricane Center as a “<a href="https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/2023/ep18/ep182023.discus.012.shtml">nightmare scenario</a>”, broke records for the fastest intensification rate over a 12-hour period in the eastern Pacific. Otis not only caught residents and authorities off guard but also exposed the limitations of our current predictive tools.</p>
<p>I specialise in <a href="https://uel.ac.uk/about-uel/staff/ravindra-jayaratne">the study of natural disasters</a> with the goal of improving our ability to predict them and ultimately to save lives. It is critical that we address the pressing concerns related to the tools we use for forecasting these catastrophic events, all while recognising the significant influence of rapid climate change on our forecasting capabilities.</p>
<h2>The predictive tools we rely on</h2>
<p>At the core of weather forecasting are computer programs, or “models”, that blend atmospheric variables such as temperature, humidity, wind and pressure, with fundamental physics. </p>
<p>Since the atmospheric processes are nonlinear, a small degree of uncertainty in initial atmospheric conditions can lead to a large discrepancy in final forecasts. That’s why the general practice now is to forecast a set of possible scenarios rather than predict the single scenario most likely to occur.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556342/original/file-20231027-19-pg87mf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Satellite map of hurricane" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556342/original/file-20231027-19-pg87mf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556342/original/file-20231027-19-pg87mf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556342/original/file-20231027-19-pg87mf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556342/original/file-20231027-19-pg87mf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556342/original/file-20231027-19-pg87mf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=604&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556342/original/file-20231027-19-pg87mf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=604&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556342/original/file-20231027-19-pg87mf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=604&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hurricane Otis reaches its maximum intensity just as it hits Acapulco on October 25.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Otis_2023-10-25_0300Z.jpg">ABI / NOAA GOES-16 / wiki</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But while these models are instrumental in issuing early warnings and evacuation orders, they have fundamental limitations and carry a significant degree of uncertainty, especially when dealing with rare or extreme weather. This uncertainty arises from various factors including the <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsta.2011.0161">fundamentally chaotic nature of the system</a>.</p>
<p>First, the historical data is incomplete, since a hurricane such as Otis might occur only once in several millennia. We don’t know when an east Pacific storm last turned into a category 5 hurricane overnight – if ever – but it was certainly before modern satellites and weather buoys. Our models struggle to account for these “one in 1,000-year events” because we simply haven’t observed them before.</p>
<p>The complex physics governing the weather also has to be simplified in these predictive models. While this approach is effective for common scenarios, it falls short when dealing with the intricacies of extreme events that involve rare combinations of variables and factors.</p>
<p>And then there are the unknown unknowns: factors our models cannot account for because we are unaware of them, or they have not been integrated into our predictive frameworks. Unanticipated interactions among various climatic drivers can lead to unprecedented intensification, as was the case with Hurricane Otis. </p>
<h2>The role of climate change</h2>
<p>To all this we can add the problem of climate change and its impact on extreme weather. Hurricanes, in particular, are influenced by rising sea surface temperatures, which provides more energy for storms to form and intensify. </p>
<p>The connection between climate change and the intensification of hurricanes, coupled with other factors such as high precipitation or high tides, is <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-40605-2">becoming clearer</a>.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1717644354624299402"}"></div></p>
<p>With established weather patterns being altered, it is becoming even more challenging to predict the behaviour of storms and their intensification. Historical data may no longer serve as a reliable guide.</p>
<h2>The way forward</h2>
<p>The challenges are formidable but not insurmountable. There are a few steps we can take to enhance our forecasting and better prepare for the uncertainties that lie ahead.</p>
<p>The first would be to develop more advanced predictive models that integrate a broader range of factors and variables, as well as consider worst-case scenarios. Artificial intelligence and machine learning tools can help us process vast and complex datasets more efficiently. </p>
<p>But to get this additional data we’ll have to invest in more weather monitoring stations, satellite technology, AI tools and atmospheric and oceanographic research. </p>
<p>Since even world experts and their models can be caught out by sudden weather extremes, we also need to educate the public about the limitations and uncertainties in weather forecasting. </p>
<p>We must encourage preparedness and a proactive response to warnings, even when predictions seem uncertain. And of course we still have to mitigate climate change itself: the root cause of intensifying weather events. </p>
<p>Hurricane Otis provided a stark and immediate reminder of the inadequacies of our current predictive tools in the face of rapid climate change and increasingly extreme weather events. The urgency to adapt and innovate in the realm of weather forecasting has never been greater. </p>
<p>It is incumbent upon us to rise to the occasion and usher in a new era of prediction that can keep pace with the ever-shifting dynamics of our planet’s climate. Our future depends on it.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Imagine weekly climate newsletter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong><em>Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?</em></strong>
<br><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/imagine-57?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=Imagine&utm_content=DontHaveTimeTop">Get a weekly roundup in your inbox instead.</a> Every Wednesday, The Conversation’s environment editor writes Imagine, a short email that goes a little deeper into just one climate issue. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/imagine-57?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=Imagine&utm_content=DontHaveTimeBottom">Join the 20,000+ readers who’ve subscribed so far.</a></em></p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216562/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ravindra Jayaratne does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
A deadly hurricane developed in just 12 hours.
Ravindra Jayaratne, Reader in Coastal Engineering, University of East London
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/212686
2023-10-30T12:31:33Z
2023-10-30T12:31:33Z
Day of the Dead is taking on Halloween traditions, but the sacred holiday is far more than a ‘Mexican Halloween’
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555836/original/file-20231025-23-f7706p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=11%2C0%2C7928%2C5297&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Children trick or treat and wear Halloween costumes for a full week during Day of the Dead season in Mexico.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/portrait-of-boy-with-sugar-skull-face-paint-during-royalty-free-image/1653069265?phrase=mexico+day+of+the+dead+people&adppopup=true">FG Trade Latin/Collection E+ via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Many Latinos regularly declare: “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/10/31/day-dead-halloween-dia-de-muertos/">Día de los Muertos is not Mexican Halloween</a>.” The declaration is increasingly <a href="https://theconversation.com/strictly-not-halloween-why-day-of-the-dead-is-misunderstood-and-why-that-matters-192476">repeated by non-Latinos too</a>. </p>
<p>Drawing a clear line between the two holidays is a rhetorical strategy to protect Day of the Dead’s integrity as Mexican cultural heritage and separate it from American popular culture. However, as a Mexican-American who celebrates Día de los Muertos and <a href="https://search.asu.edu/profile/2740395">as a scholar of culture and performance</a>, I believe it’s time to fully acknowledge the cultural intermixing that’s happening between the two holidays. </p>
<p>Halloween’s influence is transforming Día de los Muertos into a hybrid cultural tradition that simultaneously honors the dead and celebrates the macabre.</p>
<h2>The origins of the distinction</h2>
<p>Día de los Muertos is a traditional fiesta in honor of the deceased that is celebrated in Mexico and other parts of Latin America on Nov. 1 and 2. The holiday is celebrated though ritual observations like constructing altars filled with offerings to the dead and decorating family gravesites to commune with the dead. Day of the Dead is also commemorated through vivacious fiestas in which communities gather in town plazas and community centers to celebrate by dancing, playing music, feasting, drinking and masquerading as death.</p>
<p>Although Day of the Dead is a long-standing tradition in Mexico, the holiday wasn’t celebrated widely or publicly among Latinos in the U.S. That changed in the 1970s and 1980s when <a href="https://doi.org/10.5406/jamerfolk.126.501.0272">artists and activists introduced Day of the Dead</a> to their communities as part of the Chicano movement, the social and cultural movement for Mexican-American empowerment.</p>
<p>As Latinos began celebrating the holiday proudly and publicly in the U.S., they also began <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt5hj96w?typeAccessWorkflow=login">distinguishing it from Halloween</a>. That’s because many non-Latinos mistakenly interpreted Day of the Dead’s <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0961597763/ref=ox_sc_saved_image_9?smid=A18OZMH8UQINVM&psc=1">skull and skeleton imagery as witchcraft</a>. Latinos used the phrase “Día de los Muertos is not Mexican Halloween” to protect the holiday from misrepresentation, <a href="https://www.selfhelpgraphics.com/gifts/dia-de-los-muertos-a-cultural-legacy-past-present-and-futurecatalogue">educate the broader public about the cultural tradition</a> and shield themselves from discrimination.</p>
<p>The declaration was also used in the 1970s and 1980s by Mexico’s tourism industry when it began vigorously promoting Day of the Dead internationally <a href="https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Skulls+to+the+Living%2C+Bread+to+the+Dead%3A+The+Day+of+the+Dead+in+Mexico+and+Beyond-p-9781405152488">as a cultural attraction</a>. Tourists arriving in Mexico were informed that Día de los Muertos was an authentic national holiday that bore no relation to Halloween.</p>
<h2>The 1990s and 2000s</h2>
<p>In the 1990s, “Día de los Muertos is not Mexican Halloween” became a political statement. The North American Free Trade Agreement, signed in 1994, flooded Mexico with <a href="https://utpress.utexas.edu/9780292751996/">U.S. consumer goods, media and popular culture</a>. Halloween’s importation was seen by some Mexicans as <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/541045">a symbol of U.S. “cultural imperialism</a>,” the process by which the United States uses culture to maintain political and economic domination over Mexico. </p>
<p>But by the early 2000s, Mexican, U.S. and British anthropologists reported that Halloween was already fusing with Día de los Muertos <a href="https://books.google.com.sg/books/about/Digging_the_Days_of_the_Dead.html?id=qZUMAAAAYAAJ&redir_esc=y">in fascinating ways</a>. Halloween candy, costumes and ornaments appeared in stores and street markets, where it was displayed next to Day of the Dead material. Jack-o-lantern and spider-web decorations adorned ofrendas, the traditional altars erected for the dead. The streets were increasingly filled with trick-or-treating children dressed as witches, vampires and monsters. <a href="https://cup.columbia.edu/book/days-of-death-days-of-life/9780231136884">Bars and nightclubs in southern Mexico hosted</a> Halloween and Day of the Dead costume parties for adults. </p>
<p><a href="https://books.google.com.sg/books/about/The_Skeleton_at_the_Feast.html?id=6aMMAAAAYAAJ&redir_esc=y">Some Mexicans denounced</a> Halloween as “an invasion.” Some referred to Halloween as “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1996/11/02/world/the-day-of-the-ghouls-vs-the-day-of-the-dead.html">cultural pollution</a>.”</p>
<p>Such fears led the United Nations in 2003 to officially designate Día de los Muertos a form of “<a href="https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/indigenous-festivity-dedicated-to-the-dead-00054">intangible cultural heritage</a>,” a classification reserved for cultural traditions like rituals, oral traditions and performing arts that are <a href="https://ich.unesco.org/doc/src/01851-EN.pdf">endangered by globalization or lack of support</a>. This gave the United Nations authority to work with the Mexican government to “protect and conserve” Day of the Dead, which would presumably safeguard the holiday from influences like Halloween. But it was too late. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Girl hits pinata at a celebration in Mexico." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555840/original/file-20231025-27-5cxl3t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555840/original/file-20231025-27-5cxl3t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555840/original/file-20231025-27-5cxl3t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555840/original/file-20231025-27-5cxl3t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555840/original/file-20231025-27-5cxl3t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555840/original/file-20231025-27-5cxl3t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555840/original/file-20231025-27-5cxl3t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Día de los Muertos celebrations in Mexico are adapting and fusing with Halloween in interesting ways.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/girl-hitting-pi%C3%B1ata-during-a-day-of-the-death-royalty-free-image/1653070912?phrase=day+of+the+dead&adppopup=true">FG Trade Latin/ Collection E+ via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Hollywood’s influence</h2>
<p>Today, Halloween haunts Día de Los Muertos in Mexico like never before. Children trick or treat in costume for a full week during Day of the Dead season. They beg for candy from shops and restaurants by crying “Queremos Halloween!” – literally meaning, “We want Halloween!” On Nov. 2 at the country’s largest cemetery, Panteón de Dolores, you’ll find graveyard ofrendas decorated with cobwebs, vampires, witches and pumpkins.</p>
<p>The fusion of Halloween and Day of the Dead is largely facilitated by Hollywood. A prime example is the celebration at the famous Panteón de San Fernando, a cemetery where the remains of some of Mexico’s most important presidents and dignitaries are buried. As part of holiday festivities, the cemetery hosts a screening of the horror classic “Night of the Living Dead.” Hundreds dressed in Day of the Dead attire gather at the tomb of President Benito Juárez, eating candy while watching zombies terrorize a small American community. </p>
<p>The impact of Halloween’s horror movie influence is most noticeable at the country’s largest Día de los Muertos celebration. The Gran Desfile de Día de Muertos, or the Great Day of the Dead parade, which began in 2016 as a simulation of the one depicted in the James Bond movie “<a href="https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/mexico-city-day-of-the-day-parade/index.html">Spectre</a>,” annually attracts more than a million attendees.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Hollywood horror movie images at Day of the Dead festivity in Mexico City." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556388/original/file-20231028-21-7as67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556388/original/file-20231028-21-7as67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556388/original/file-20231028-21-7as67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556388/original/file-20231028-21-7as67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556388/original/file-20231028-21-7as67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=654&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556388/original/file-20231028-21-7as67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=654&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556388/original/file-20231028-21-7as67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=654&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dia de los Muertos festivities in Mexico City feature Hollywood horror movie images and costumes typically reserved for Halloween.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mathew Sandoval photo</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In addition to sugar skull makeup and skeleton attire, participants also don Hollywood horror costumes typically reserved for Halloween. You’ll find people dressed as Jigsaw from the “Saw” movies, Chucky from “Child’s Play,” Ghostface from the “Scream” series and Pennywise from Stephen King’s “It.”</p>
<p>By far the most popular costume in 2022 was Michael Myers from “Halloween.” This is hardly surprising. The franchise’s most recent installment, “<a href="https://www.miramax.com/movie/halloween-ends/">Halloween Ends</a>,” was huge in Mexico. When the film was released in Mexico during Day of the Dead and Halloween season, it was one of the <a href="https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl2346943233/weekend/">highest-grossing movies in the country</a>. In fact, of the 70 counties where the film was released, Mexico had the <a href="https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt10665342/">third-highest ticket sales</a>. </p>
<h2>Characters from Disney at celebrations</h2>
<p>In particular, Disney’s influence on both Halloween and Día de los Muertos is immense. The number of children and adults costumed as Darth Vader, Spiderman or Jasmine and Aladdin at Day of the Dead celebrations is bewildering. </p>
<p>And they’re not just at the festive events like the Gran Desfile de Muertos, either. They’re at the ritual ceremonies, too. One can find all manner of Avenger superheroes at the Panteón de Dolores gathered graveside and making offerings to the dead.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="People in costumes dancing with characters inspired by Disney and Pixar's Coco." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555843/original/file-20231025-25-idhk45.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555843/original/file-20231025-25-idhk45.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555843/original/file-20231025-25-idhk45.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555843/original/file-20231025-25-idhk45.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555843/original/file-20231025-25-idhk45.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555843/original/file-20231025-25-idhk45.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555843/original/file-20231025-25-idhk45.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Disney California Adventure Park celebrating Día de los Muertos in 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/in-this-handout-photo-provided-by-disneyland-resorts-plaza-news-photo/1233876227?adppopup=true">Joshua Sudock/Handout/Disneyland Resort via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Then there’s the dilemma posed by Disney-Pixar’s “Coco,” the beloved animated film about Día de los Muertos. Similar to every Disney entity, companies license and manufacture <a href="https://www.halloweencostumes.com/coco-costumes.html">Halloween costumes</a> based on characters from the movie. </p>
<p>These costumes are now popular in Mexico, where people dress up as characters from “Coco.” But when they masquerade as the skull-faced Miguel, Ernesto de la Cruz or Mama Imelda, it’s hard to say whether they’re wearing a Halloween costume or a Día de los Muertos costume. I’d venture to say that it’s both simultaneously.</p>
<p>And therein lies the crisis of identity currently facing Mexico’s Day of the Dead. The influence of Hollywood is making it more and more difficult to credibly say “Día de los Muertos is not a Mexican Halloween.”</p>
<h2>What’s next for Day of the Dead</h2>
<p>The fusion between the two holidays is happening in rural and urban areas, and in the borderlands and deeper parts of Mexico. It’s altering Day of the Dead’s popular festive qualities and its ceremonial customs.</p>
<p>Cultural conservatives will no doubt bemoan this as “pollution” of a sacred tradition. But they forget that transformation and adaptation are what ensure any tradition’s survival. Día de los Muertos may live eternally, but it’ll be thanks to the vampire bite of Halloween.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212686/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mathew Sandoval does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Halloween’s influence is transforming popular festivities around Día de los Muertos and its ceremonial customs in rural and urban areas of Mexico in some fascinating ways.
Mathew Sandoval, Associate Teaching Professor in Culture & Performance, Arizona State University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/212687
2023-10-24T12:22:19Z
2023-10-24T12:22:19Z
How ‘La Catrina’ became the iconic symbol of Day of the Dead
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552390/original/file-20231005-24-skza08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=191%2C191%2C5051%2C3450&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A girl dressed as a 'catrina' takes part in the Catrinas Parade in Mexico City to celebrate Day of the Dead.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/girl-dressed-as-catrina-walks-while-taking-part-in-the-news-photo/617638204?adppopup=true">Yuri Cortez/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>On April 13, 1944, thousands of people clashed with police on the steps of <a href="https://www.artic.edu/about-us/mission-and-history/history">the Art Institute of Chicago</a>. </p>
<p>The melee was unrelated to U.S. participation in World War II, labor unrest or President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s <a href="https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/fdr-seizes-control-of-montgomery-ward">controversial move to seize control</a> of local Chicago industries. </p>
<p>Rather, a massive, impatient art crowd overwhelmed the museum’s capacity, causing mayhem. That’s how desperately people wanted to see the U.S. premiere of an exhibition titled “Posada: Printmaker to the Mexican People.”</p>
<p>The exhibition featured the prints of <a href="https://www.posada-art-foundation.com/about-posada">José Guadalupe Posada</a>, a Mexican engraver who had died in 1913. On display were his calaveras, the satirical skull and skeleton illustrations he made for Day of the Dead, which he printed on cheap, single-sheet newspapers known as broadsides.</p>
<p>One specific calavera, or skull, attracted more attention than the others. </p>
<p>Known as La Catrina, she was a garish skeleton with a wide, toothy grin and an oversized feathered hat. A large print of her <a href="https://www.artic.edu/exhibitions/8528/gallery-of-art-interpretation-who-is-posada">hung on the museum’s wall</a>. Audiences saw her featured in the museum’s promotional materials. She was even the cover girl of <a href="https://www.artic.edu/exhibitions/8526/the-art-of-jose-guadalupe-posada-lent-by-the-department-of-fine-arts-of-mexico">the exhibition catalog</a>. Back in Mexico she’d been virtually unknown, but the U.S. exhibition made La Catrina an international sensation.</p>
<p>Today, La Catrina is Posada’s most recognizable creation. She’s the icon of <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/top-ten-day-of-dead-mexico">Day of the Dead</a>, Mexico’s annual fiesta in honor of the deceased that takes place annually on Nov. 1 and 2. Her visage is endlessly reproduced during the holiday. Her idolization has made her Mexico’s unofficial national totem, perhaps second only to <a href="https://theconversation.com/warrior-servant-mother-unifier-the-virgin-mary-has-played-many-roles-through-the-centuries-165596">the Virgin of Guadalupe</a>. </p>
<p>While some people might presume it’s always been this way, La Catrina is actually a transcultural icon whose prestige and popularity are equal parts invention and accident.</p>
<h2>A life of obscurity</h2>
<p>When Posada first engraved her <a href="https://www.posada-art-foundation.com/posada-lacatrina">in 1912</a>, she wasn’t even called La Catrina. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552387/original/file-20231005-19-nq4t90.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Peach colored program cover featuring a print of a skeleton wearing a lavish hat." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552387/original/file-20231005-19-nq4t90.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552387/original/file-20231005-19-nq4t90.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552387/original/file-20231005-19-nq4t90.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552387/original/file-20231005-19-nq4t90.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552387/original/file-20231005-19-nq4t90.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1007&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552387/original/file-20231005-19-nq4t90.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1007&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552387/original/file-20231005-19-nq4t90.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1007&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The catalog cover for ‘Posada,’ a 1944 exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago, features what came to be known as La Catrina.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.artic.edu/exhibitions/8526/the-art-of-jose-guadalupe-posada-lent-by-the-department-of-fine-arts-of-mexico">The Art Institute of Chicago</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the original print, she’s Calavera Garbancera, a <a href="https://glasstire.com/2019/11/02/jose-guadalupe-posada-and-diego-rivera-fashion-catrina-from-sellout-to-national-icon-and-back-again/">title used</a> to refer to indigenous peasant women who sold garbanzo beans at the street markets.</p>
<p>Posada illustrated her in ostentatious attire to satirize the way the garbanceras attempted to pass as upper-class by powdering their faces and wearing fashionable French attire. So even from the beginning, La Catrina was transcultural – a rural indigenous woman adopting European customs to survive in Mexico’s urban, mixed-race society.</p>
<p>Like Posada’s other illustrations, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/1360573">the 1912 broadside</a> was sold for a penny to primarily poor and working-class men throughout Mexico City and nearby areas. But there was nothing particularly significant about Calavera Garbancera. Like her creator, she remained obscure for many years.</p>
<p>Posada died <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Guadalupe-Mexican-Broadside-Institute-Chicago/dp/0300121377">broke and unknown</a>, but his illustrations <a href="https://www.unmpress.com/9780826319043/posadas-broadsheets/">had an afterlife</a>. His publisher reused them for other broadsides well into the 1920s. Calavera Garbancera got recycled as various other characters, none particularly noteworthy. Meanwhile, nobody really knew who made the calavera broadsides they saw around the capital every Day of the Dead.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555055/original/file-20231020-29-n6mh1k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Printed broadsheet featuring text and a drawing of a skeleton wearing a big hat on green paper." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555055/original/file-20231020-29-n6mh1k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555055/original/file-20231020-29-n6mh1k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=796&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555055/original/file-20231020-29-n6mh1k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=796&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555055/original/file-20231020-29-n6mh1k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=796&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555055/original/file-20231020-29-n6mh1k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1000&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555055/original/file-20231020-29-n6mh1k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1000&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555055/original/file-20231020-29-n6mh1k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1000&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Revolutionary Calavera,’ by José Guadalupe Posada, printed on a broadside.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/revolutionary-calavera-c-1910-creator-josé-guadalupe-posada-news-photo/1447192444?adppopup=true">Heritage Art/Heritage Images via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>That changed in the mid-1920s when Posada’s work drew the attention of French artist Jean Charlot, a leading figure in the <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Mexican_Mural_Renaissance_1920_1925.html?id=_g9ZAAAAMAAJ">Mexican Renaissance</a>, that creative outburst of nationalist murals and artworks that transpired in the aftermath of the Mexican Revolution.</p>
<p>Charlot was enamored of the calavera illustrations he saw around Mexico City, but he didn’t know who created them. He eventually tracked down Posada’s publisher and began researching the engraver. Charlot <a href="https://icaa.mfah.org/s/en/item/779806#?c=&m=&s=&cv=&xywh=-1673%2C0%2C5895%2C3299">published articles</a> about Posada and introduced the artist’s calaveras to other Mexican Renaissance artists and intellectuals. Among the most important were painter <a href="https://www.diegorivera.org/">Diego Rivera</a> and critic <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1956/06/18/archives/frances-toor-66-wrote-on-mexico-author-of-books-on-folkways-and-of.html">Frances Toor</a>.</p>
<h2>From La Garbancera to La Catrina</h2>
<p>Rivera, of course, is arguably the greatest artist in Mexican history. <a href="https://theconversation.com/detroit-1932-when-diego-rivera-and-frida-kahlo-came-to-town-38884">His epic murals</a> remain internationally famous. </p>
<p>Frances Toor, on the other hand, was a modest Jewish intellectual who made her career writing about Mexican culture. In 1925 she started publishing <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/43466157">Mexican Folkways</a>, a popular bilingual magazine distributed in Mexico and the U.S. With Diego Rivera as her art editor, she started using the magazine to promote Posada. In annual October-November issues, Toor and Rivera featured large reprints of Posada’s calaveras. </p>
<p>However, Calavera Garbancera was never among them. She wasn’t important enough to showcase.</p>
<p>In 1930, Toor and Rivera published <a href="https://philamuseum.org/collection/object/343276">the first book</a> of Posada’s engravings, which sold throughout Mexico and the U.S. In it, La Garbancera finally made an appearance. But she had a new name – Calavera Catrina. For reasons unknown, Toor and Rivera chose the honorific, which referred to her as a female dandy. The calavera was forevermore La Catrina.</p>
<p>Her fame, however, didn’t truly arrive until Posada’s riotous debut at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1944. The exhibition was a collaboration between the museum and the Mexican government. It was funded and facilitated by a special White House propaganda agency that used <a href="https://www.academia.edu/29923182/Jos%C3%A9_Guadalupe_Posada_Art_Institute_of_Chicago_1944_pdf?email_work_card=view-paper">cultural diplomacy</a> to fortify solidarity with Latin America during World War II. </p>
<p>This boosterism allowed the Posada exhibition to tour and give La Catrina wider exposure. She was seen and promoted in New York, Philadelphia, Mexico City and elsewhere in Mexico.</p>
<p>Perhaps more important was the exhibition catalog, which featured La Catrina as cover girl. It sold at each tour location. <a href="https://www.artic.edu/institutional-archives">Complimentary copies</a> were also distributed to prominent U.S. and Mexican authors and artists. They started writing about La Catrina and refashioning her in their artworks, popularizing her on both sides of the border.</p>
<h2>La Catrina goes global</h2>
<p>In 1947, Diego Rivera further immortalized La Catrina when he made her the focal point of one of his most famous murals, “<a href="https://www.diegorivera.org/dream-of-a-sunday-afternoon-in-alameda-park.jsp">Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in Alameda Park</a>.” </p>
<p>The mural portrays Mexican history from the Spanish conquest to the Mexican Revolution. La Catrina stands at the literal center of this history, where Rivera painted her holding hands with Posada on one side and a boyhood version of himself on the other.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Painting of an elegantly dressed skeleton holding hands with a boy and a man wearing hats." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552394/original/file-20231005-27-ruxzoc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552394/original/file-20231005-27-ruxzoc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552394/original/file-20231005-27-ruxzoc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552394/original/file-20231005-27-ruxzoc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552394/original/file-20231005-27-ruxzoc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552394/original/file-20231005-27-ruxzoc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552394/original/file-20231005-27-ruxzoc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A detail of Diego Rivera’s mural ‘Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in Alameda Park,’ which hangs at the Diego Rivera Mural Museum in Mexico City.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nicksherman/4080802657">Nick Sherman/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Rivera’s fame – and La Catrina’s newfound gravitas – inspired Mexican and Mexican American artists to incorporate her into their works, too. </p>
<p><a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/El_D%C3%ADa_de_Los_Muertos.html?id=BTNQAAAAMAAJ">Folk artists</a> in Mexico began fashioning her into ceramic toys, <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/En_Calavera.html?id=3mJQAAAAMAAJ">papier-mâché figurines</a> and other crafts sold during Day of the Dead. Mexican Americans utilized La Catrina in their murals, paintings and political posters as part of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-chicana-women-artists-have-often-used-the-figure-of-the-virgin-of-guadalupe-for-political-messages-213720">Chicano Movement</a>, which pushed for Mexican American civil rights in the 1960s and 1970s.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Extravagent costume featuring a headdress, skull mask and red and black cloak." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555067/original/file-20231020-19-y4bgms.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555067/original/file-20231020-19-y4bgms.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=882&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555067/original/file-20231020-19-y4bgms.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=882&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555067/original/file-20231020-19-y4bgms.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=882&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555067/original/file-20231020-19-y4bgms.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1108&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555067/original/file-20231020-19-y4bgms.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1108&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555067/original/file-20231020-19-y4bgms.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1108&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Each year, Los Angeles native Christina Sanchez dresses as ‘Catrina Christina’ for Day of the Dead.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mars Sandoval</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>La Catrina’s image is now used to sell anything <a href="https://tee-luv.com/products/victoria-beer-mexican-la-catrina-t-shirt-black">from beer</a> to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/01/us/day-of-the-dead-barbie-cultural-appropriation-trnd/index.html">Barbie dolls</a>. You can order La Catrina costumes from <a href="https://www.walmart.com/c/kp/catrina-costume">Walmart</a> and <a href="https://www.spirithalloween.com/product/adult-la-catrina-day-of-the-dead-trumpet-dress-costume/175819.uts">Spirit Halloween</a> stores.</p>
<p>In fact, La Catrina costume parades and contests are a relatively new Day of the Dead tradition in Mexico and the U.S. Participants span race, ethnicity and nationality. </p>
<p>Some people, such as “<a href="https://shoutoutla.com/meet-christina-sanchez-catrina-christina/">Catrina Christina</a>” in Los Angeles, don a costume each year as a way to honor the dearly departed on Día de los Muertos. Others dress as La Catrina to grow their <a href="https://www.uscannenbergmedia.com/2021/11/02/content-creators-use-their-platforms-to-celebrate-dia-de-los-muertos/">social media following</a>, or impersonate her to make money.</p>
<p>Posada probably never expected his female calavera to become so famous. He merely wanted to use traditional Day of the Dead humor to make fun of the flamboyantly dressed garbanceras he saw hanging around Mexico City’s central plaza. </p>
<p>Today, during Día de los Muertos, that same central plaza is filled with hundreds of La Catrina impersonators who, for a few dollars, will pose for photographs with tourists all too willing to pay for such a “traditional” cultural experience with an “authentic” Day of the Dead icon. </p>
<p>Posada, meanwhile, is likely laughing somewhere in the land of the dead.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212687/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mathew Sandoval does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
An obscure Mexican engraver named José Guadalupe Posada created the satirical skull in the early 1900s and sold it for a penny. But after he died, it took on a life of its own.
Mathew Sandoval, Associate Teaching Professor in Culture & Performance, Arizona State University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/213720
2023-10-12T12:30:02Z
2023-10-12T12:30:02Z
How Chicana women artists have often used the figure of the Virgin of Guadalupe for political messages
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553308/original/file-20231011-27-wypna1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C515%2C405&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Chicana artist Yolanda Lopez's artwork: 'Portrait of the Artist as the Virgin of Guadalupe.'</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Yolanda Lopez</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In 1975, Chicano artist Amado M. Peña <a href="https://penagallery.com/">depicted police brutality</a> by showing the bloodied head of 12-year-old Santos Rodriguez, whom Dallas police had shot for allegedly stealing $8
from a vending machine. The painting “<a href="https://americanart.si.edu/artwork/aquellos-que-han-muerto-35251">Aquellos que han muerto</a>,” translated as “Those who have died,” further listed the names of other Chicano youth killed by police. </p>
<p>Across the background, Peña included rows of skulls – a gesture that art historian E. Carmen Ramos explains “conjures death and connects with <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/blogs/smithsonian-american-art-museum/2021/05/13/protest-and-remembrance-chicanx-artists-confront-police-brutality/">skull imagery frequently used in Mesoamerican religious practices</a> and modern Mexican art.”</p>
<p>Peña’s work was part of what came to be known as the <a href="https://www.mexicanmuseum.org/chicano-movement">Chicano art movement</a>. Throughout the 1960s and ’70s, Chicano art powerfully decried the discrimination, inequality and cultural oppression faced by Mexican Americans in the United States. At the same time, many Chicano artists threaded symbols of ancient Mexican and contemporary beliefs throughout their political art. </p>
<p>As a <a href="https://icaa.mfah.org/s/en/item/848799#?c=&m=&s=&cv=&xywh=-1673%2C0%2C5895%2C3299">professor of Chicano and Latin American art history</a>, I have focused my research on artists’ use of spiritual and cultural symbols to forge a new sense of community. </p>
<p>In particular, over the past few decades, Chicana artists have used the figure of the Virgin of Guadalupe to convey social, cultural and political, though not necessarily religious, messages.</p>
<h2>Chicana art and the Virgin of Guadalupe</h2>
<p>First, it is essential to understand the centurieslong history of changing practices concerning the virgin’s image. </p>
<p>Today considered the protector of marginalized people, the Virgin of Guadalupe has become an icon in Mexican American social and political movements. As a significant spiritual figure, she is <a href="https://virgendeguadalupe.org.mx/en/bibliografia/">often seen as a symbol</a> of faith, protection and hope.</p>
<p>Known as the dark-skinned patroness of Mexico, legend explains that the Virgin of Guadalupe miraculously <a href="https://todayscatholic.org/lady-guadalupe-feast-celebrate-patroness-americas/">appeared to an Indigenous person</a> in Mexico in 1531. Notably, the Virgin Mary took the form of a mestiza, or mixed-race woman, speaking Nahuatl, the language of the recently colonized peoples. Over the centuries, her image came to be associated with vulnerable populations, especially as an advocate for migrants who embark upon uncertain travels.</p>
<p>In the 19th century, Catholic priest Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla sent the call across New Spain, now Mexico, for independence from Spain. Hidalgo carried Guadalupe’s banner as he gathered fighters. Soldiers <a href="https://www.csus.edu/indiv/o/obriene/art111/readings/virgin%20of%20guadalupe.pdf">wore her image in the battles for Mexican independence</a> of 1810 and again in the Mexican civil war of 1910-20.</p>
<p>In the United States, Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta, the <a href="https://theconversation.com/pilgrimage-and-revolution-how-cesar-chavez-married-faith-and-ideology-in-landmark-farmworkers-march-200043">leaders of the United Farm Workers Union</a>, carried Guadalupe’s image in the <a href="https://ufw.org/1965-1970-delano-grape-strike-boycott/">1960s strikes against the grape-growing companies</a>. National media became riveted by Catholic priests and nuns joining the farm workers who carried crosses and banners of Guadalupe. In this way, organizers within the Chicano Movement affirmed their struggles for <a href="https://reuther.wayne.edu/node/158">economic and racial equity</a> as a spiritual undertaking.</p>
<h2>A symbol of empowerment</h2>
<p>Through the 1970s, ’80s, and ’90s, feminist and gender perspectives became more prominent in art as Chicana artists explored complex concepts of identity. Artistic representations of women <a href="https://utpress.utexas.edu/9780292788985/">began to consider</a> intersections of economic class, regional location, gender and sexuality, as well as diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds.</p>
<p>Still, many Chicana artists connected interpretations of the virgin with political and cultural change. Guadalupe was <a href="https://read.dukeupress.edu/books/book/2135/Chicana-ArtThe-Politics-of-Spiritual-and-Aesthetic">frequently used to express feminist ideals</a>, such as in the work of artist Yolanda Lopez. In her renowned 1978 “<a href="https://sjmusart.org/exhibition/yolanda-lopez-portrait-artist">Portrait of the Artist as the Virgin of Guadalupe</a>,” Lopez appears within the Virgin’s full-body halo. Creating an affirming image of mixed-race women, Lopez modernized the attire by raising the hemline above the knees and adding running shoes. This modern Virgin appears to be vigorously moving forward while boldly clutching a snake as a sign of power and influence.</p>
<p>Chicana artist Ester Hernández also used the Virgin of Guadalupe to symbolize women’s empowerment. In a 1975 print, the artist presented Guadalupe as a karate champion defending the rights of Chicanos. This modern Guadalupe personified the <a href="https://americanart.si.edu/artwork/la-virgen-de-guadalupe-defendiendo-los-derechos-de-los-xicanos-86123">powerful work of women</a> <a href="https://americanart.si.edu/exhibitions/chicano-graphics/online/la-virgen-de-guadalupe">within the civil rights movement</a>.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Ester Hernández interview.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Protector of the borderlands</h2>
<p>Over the past several decades, many Chicana artists have used Guadalupe to emphasize the need for dialogue, solutions and justice in <a href="https://read.dukeupress.edu/books/book/2135/Chicana-ArtThe-Politics-of-Spiritual-and-Aesthetic">addressing immigration-related issues</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.lilianawilson.com/">Liliana Wilson</a>, a Chilean American artist well known for her artworks addressing immigration and human rights issues, has worked within borderland Chicano communities for decades. Her 1987 painting “<a href="https://sanantonioreport.org/liliana-wilsons-gentle-activism/wilson_el-color_rodrigo-rojas/">El Color de la Esperanza,” or “The Color of Hope</a>,” features Guadalupe safeguarding a sleeping youth. He is alone and is deeply vulnerable within a desert landscape marked by the barbed wire border fence at his back.</p>
<p>In my recent telephone interview with Wilson, she explained that “the Aztec sun and the virgin are all that the sleeping youth has in this world; they represent his close connection with nature, Indigenous culture and human hope … Guadalupe travels with them in their hearts.”</p>
<p>In a 2010 print, artist Ester Hernández satirically pictured the Virgin within a fictitious “Wanted” poster. The artist used the image of Guadalupe to critique exclusionary policies that endanger migrants desperate for safe spaces. </p>
<p>The poster ironically accuses the Virgin of Guadalupe of <a href="https://americanart.si.edu/artwork/wanted-86375">committing the crime</a> of “providing limitless aid and comfort” to those who have died attempting to cross the desert regions separating Mexico from the U.S. </p>
<h2>Guadalupe as embracing identities</h2>
<p>Many Chicana artists and writers use Guadalupe’s image to redefine the borderlands’ people as representatives of a new hybrid space. Guadalupe herself is seen to be a hybrid entity; her apparition occurred at the sacred site previously dedicated to the Aztec goddess Tonantzin, also known as Coatlique, or the “Mother of the Gods.” </p>
<p>For Chicanas, the merging of Tonantzin and the Virgin of Guadalupe <a href="https://core.ac.uk/download/56110546.pdf">is a form of cultural reclamation</a>. It allows them to assert their mixed-race identities while reinterpreting religious symbols to better reflect their diverse experiences and values. Drawing upon this understanding of Guadalupe as a hybrid entity representing the borderlands, in 1995 artist <a href="https://www.santabarraza.com/">Santa Barraza</a> painted the image of the Virgin on the back of a mestiza (mixed race) migrant and titled the art “<a href="https://www.santabarraza.com/portfolio-item/nepantla/">Nepantla</a>.” </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Santa Barraza discusses her art.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Nepantla, well discussed within Chicano intellectual and artistic circles, expresses a psychological space of uncertainty and loss, especially within the borderlands. This Nahuatl word represents a <a href="https://nacla.org/article/chicana-artists-exploring-nepantla-el-lugar-de-la-frontera">state of transition and change</a>, especially as it relates to cultural mixing. For Barraza, this image of Nepantla also represents a <a href="https://www.tamupress.com/book/9780890969069/santa-barraza-artist-of-the-borderlands/">historical, emotional and spiritual land</a> – between Mexico and Texas, between the real and the celestial, and between present reality and the mythic world of the ancient Aztecs and Mayas.</p>
<p>Mexican American theologian Virgilio Elizondo has written extensively on such varied ways that the Virgin of Guadalupe represents religious and cultural mixing. <a href="https://faithandleadership.com/virgilio-p-elizondo-diversity-sign-the-new-creation">Elizondo affirms this blended knowledge</a> that grows out of the borderlands as “existing at the intersection of two ways of knowing.” </p>
<p>In light of constantly conflicting worldviews and systems of power, writers such as Elizondo and Chicana theorist Gloria Anzaldúa present this notion of Guadalupe as a new mestizo sensibility that <a href="https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/hksdigitalbookdisplay/publications/borderlands-la-frontera-new-mestiza">embraces mixed identities</a> as a means of adaptation and survival. </p>
<p>In Elizondo’s and Anzaldúa’s writings, as well as for many within 21st-century Chicano communities, Guadalupe is the “sign of the new creation,” a <a href="https://faithandleadership.com/virgilio-p-elizondo-diversity-sign-the-new-creation">third space that accepts the lived experience of difference</a> and supports the needs of those who suffer from social injustices.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213720/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Judith Huacuja does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Over the past decades, many Chicana artists have used Guadalupe to emphasize issues of justice around immigration.
Judith Huacuja, Professor of Art History, University of Dayton
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/213179
2023-09-19T16:20:00Z
2023-09-19T16:20:00Z
Mexican court ruling upholding women’s right to abortion shows global trend better than US Roe v Wade decision
<p>It may surprise you to learn that, over the past 30 years, no fewer than <a href="https://reproductiverights.org/maps/worlds-abortion-laws/">60 countries</a> have liberalised their abortion laws while <a href="https://reproductiverights.org/maps/worlds-abortion-laws/">only four</a> have rolled back abortion rights. The United States is, of course, one of the latter group that has recently restricted women’s access to abortion. </p>
<p>Because the US looms so large in international news coverage of abortion, casual observers often assume that anti-abortion reforms in the US signal a broader global trend or will trigger a domino effect of abortion restrictions. But this view is misguided. It’s important to explore why this is. </p>
<p>In order to understand global abortion trends, we should look across America’s southern border to Mexico. On September 7, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/mexicos-supreme-court-upholds-abortion-rights-nationwide-paving-way-federal-2023-09-06/">a landmark decision</a> by Mexico’s supreme court found that laws prohibiting abortion were unconstitutional violations of women’s rights. The decision lays the foundation for full decriminalisation of abortion in Mexico – but will have to be enacted in the legislature before it will be the law of the land. </p>
<p>Nonetheless, Mexico’s trajectory is more representative of what is happening across the globe than the US <a href="https://theconversation.com/us-supreme-court-decision-on-abortion-creates-patchwork-of-rights-based-on-where-you-live-186319">supreme court decision of 2022</a> that overturned the constitutional abortion right of Roe v Wade. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/us-supreme-court-decision-on-abortion-creates-patchwork-of-rights-based-on-where-you-live-186319">US Supreme Court decision on abortion creates 'patchwork of rights' based on where you live</a>
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<p>Progress on abortion rights is visible <a href="https://reproductiverights.org/maps/worlds-abortion-laws/">across the world</a>. Mexico is part of a “green wave” across Latin America that has also achieved reforms in <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-64784660">Argentina</a> and <a href="https://read.dukeupress.edu/south-atlantic-quarterly/article/122/2/397/343181/Abortion-Reform-in-Colombia-From-Total-Prohibition">Colombia</a>. But progress is not limited to Latin America. In 2018, Irish voters <a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/ireland-votes-to-remove-constitutional-ban-on-abortion-by-resounding-two-thirds-majority-1.3510068">overwhelmingly supported</a> a measure to remove a constitutional abortion ban. </p>
<p>Within the space of two years (2020-2022), Thailand moved from a criminal ban on abortion to <a href="https://time.com/6225758/thailand-abortion-access/">legal abortion up to 20 weeks</a>. In 2021, Benin adopted one of Africa’s <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2023/feb/28/benin-africa-liberal-abortion-laws-women-still-dying#:%7E:text=Abortions%20can%20be%20carried%20out,most%20liberal%20laws%20in%20Africa.">most progressive abortion laws</a>, allowing for abortion on a range of grounds up to 12 weeks. India’s supreme court <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10321178/#">expanded abortion rights in 2022</a>, ruling that all Indian women must have the right to safe and legal abortion regardless of their marital status. </p>
<p>So countries such as the USA, <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/09/14/poland-abortion-witch-hunt-targets-women-doctors">Poland</a>, <a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/el-salvador-women-abortion-obstetric-problems-prison-fight/">El Salvador</a>, and <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/07/31/nicaragua-abortion-ban-threatens-health-and-lives">Nicaragua</a> – the four to roll back abortion rights in recent years – are global outliers. </p>
<h2>Building support for women’s right to choose</h2>
<p>How have these progressive reforms come about? Abortion advocates have achieved successes through engaging with political processes. Argentine activists built a broad-based social movement and multi-party coalition in the legislature to <a href="https://blog.petrieflom.law.harvard.edu/2023/03/03/decriminalizing-abortion-in-argentina-8-takeaways-from-the-inflection-point-of-legalization/">legalise abortion in 2020</a>. In Colombia and Mexico, activists used creative legal strategies to achieve change, bringing strategic litigation and establishing themselves as legal experts. </p>
<p>After Mexico’s supreme court struck down a criminal abortion law at the state level in 2021, ruling that <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/9/7/mexico-supreme-court-says-criminalising-abortion-unconstitutional">criminalising abortion was unconstitutional</a>, NGOs launched a legal campaign to expand that decision nationwide. In last week’s ruling, Mexican courts ruled that abortion <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/9/7/mexican-supreme-court-decriminalises-abortion-on-federal-level#">should be removed from the federal penal code</a>. </p>
<p>In Colombia, a 2006 court ruling limited legal abortion to a few very narrow grounds. Feminist activists there mobilised to develop and disseminate <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5473042/">progressive interpretations</a> of the law, working with doctors to ensure they could provide abortions while feeling protected from prosecution. In 2022, Colombia’s supreme court decriminalised abortion up to 24 weeks. A <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2023/mar/24/historic-moment-as-el-salvador-abortion-case-fuels-hopes-for-expanded-access-across-latin-america#:%7E:text=In%20El%20Salvador%2C%20abortion%20is,to%2050%2Dyear%20prison%20sentence">pending case</a> before the Inter-american Court of Human Rights holds out the promise of progress for abortion rights in El Saldavor. </p>
<p>When social movements achieve change in political institutions, they are often capitalising on years of on-the-ground campaigning to shift public opinion on abortion. Latin American activists term this process “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1215/00382876-10405133">social decriminalisation</a>”. Even where criminal anti-abortion laws persist, its social status can change. </p>
<p>Reducing abortion stigma, normalising abortion as a part of reproductive life and mobilising the public against anti-abortion prosecutions are all part of this toolkit. </p>
<p>When public attitudes shift, anti-abortion laws can lose public legitimacy and political elites can find themselves out of step with public opinion. Ireland’s 2018 <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-44256152">abortion referendum</a> showed us this dynamic: although years of opinion polls had consistently showed the constitutional abortion ban was unpopular, Irish politicians sought to avoid the issue. But in 2017, a <a href="https://2016-2018.citizensassembly.ie/en/The-Eighth-Amendment-of-the-Constitution/Final-Report-on-the-Eighth-Amendment-of-the-Constitution/">Citizens Assembly</a> was held on the issue which showed that the public urgently wanted reform. When the abortion ban was put to referendum in 2018, two-thirds of Irish voters supported legal abortion. </p>
<p>Growing availability of self-managed abortion is also an important factor in the global trend towards abortion reform. Self-managed abortion with pills means that safe abortion is easier to access outside of clinical settings and in restrictive contexts. </p>
<p>But self-managed abortion also highlights the political dilemma that governments face when they seek to enforce restrictive abortion laws. If abortion is as easy as taking a few pills that can be bought online, people will self-manage abortions regardless of the laws where they live. Efforts to prosecute them for doing so can provoke a backlash and highlight the illegitimacy of abortion bans. </p>
<p>Campaigners in Northern Ireland capitalised on changing public attitudes, as well as an inquiry by a <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2018/02/uk-violates-womens-rights-northern-ireland-unduly-restricting-access">human rights treaty body</a>, to secure a moratorium on prosecution of self-managed abortion. Abortion has been decriminalised there since 2019. </p>
<p>Abortion rights rollbacks in the US have understandably provoked outrage. Since Roe v Wade was overturned, American states have passed anti-abortion laws that are <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/08/09/1187378801/texas-abortion-law-trial-reproductive-rights">cruel and dehumanising</a>. These anti-abortion laws disproportionately affect <a href="https://www.ifwhenhow.org/resources/self-care-criminalized-preliminary-findings/">the most marginalised</a> and are sure to widen gaps in an already deeply unequal society. </p>
<p>But the American story is an outlier. At a global scale, the trajectory we see on abortion rights is one of slow but continuous progress.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213179/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sydney Calkin receives funding from the Leverhulme Trust and UKRI. She is a volunteer with the Abortion Support Network (UK). </span></em></p>
The US is one of just four countries that have rolled back women’s abortion rights in recent years.
Sydney Calkin, Reader in Geography, Queen Mary University of London
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/213014
2023-09-10T19:21:13Z
2023-09-10T19:21:13Z
How disappearance became a global weapon of psychological control, 50 years on from Chile’s US-backed coup
<p>For the few remaining <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/sep/11/long-search-remains-pinochet-victims-chile-coup">women of Calama</a> in Chile’s Atacama desert, September 11 holds a terrifying meaning. They understand the pain of watching forensic investigators meticulously scour through particles of dust, seeking to retrieve the tiniest fragments of lives brutally taken from the world. They know what it means to face devastating absence, knowing the bodies of loved ones will never be returned.</p>
<p>But their loss has nothing to do with the attack on New York’s twin towers.</p>
<p>Fifty years ago, in the early morning of September 11 1973, a US-backed coup led by General Augusto Pinochet began with Chile’s military taking control of strategic locations in the capital city Santiago, including the main radio and television networks. At 8.30am, a declaration was broadcast that the military was now in control of the country.</p>
<p>While the elected president, Salvador Allende, refused to concede power in what turned out to be his farewell address, Pinochet’s undemocratic forces surrounded the presidential palace. A few hours later, the centre of Chilean democracy was bombed by a fighter jet and set ablaze. Allende <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Salvador_Allende">died from gunshot wounds</a> the same day.</p>
<p>Chile under Pinochet would become the experimenting ground for an economic project that inspired both Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher and went by the name of <a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/oureconomy/neoliberalism-was-born-in-chile-now-it-will-die-there/">neoliberalism</a>. But it was also an experimenting laboratory for the torture and enforced disappearance of human beings.</p>
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<iframe id="noa-web-audio-player" style="border: none" src="https://embed-player.newsoveraudio.com/v4?key=x84olp&id=https://theconversation.com/how-disappearance-became-a-global-weapon-of-psychological-control-50-years-on-from-chiles-us-backed-coup-213014&bgColor=F5F5F5&color=D8352A&playColor=D8352A" width="100%" height="110px"></iframe>
<p><em>You can listen to more articles from The Conversation, narrated by Noa, <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/audio-narrated-99682">here</a>.</em></p>
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<p>During the 16 years of Pinochet’s reign, 1,100 people were officially registered as “forcibly disappeared”. Only 104 bodies were ever found, although local communities put this figure much higher. Some were abducted due to their political associations and beliefs, others for sexual abuse. And some were just randomly selected to send the message that nobody was immune to the threat of vanishment.</p>
<p>Since 2017, I have co-directed the <a href="https://www.historiesofviolence.com/stateofdisappearance">State of Disappearance project</a>, which researches and promotes better understanding of this form of violence that haunts many societies when they seek a transition to peace. The 50th anniversary of Chile’s day of terror is a key date in the annals of human suffering, in part because Pinochet’s rise to power marked the start of the modern era of disappearance as a political and organised crime technique.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Brad Evans discusses the State of Disappearance project with co-director Chantal Meza.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Techniques honed in the US</h2>
<p>The strategy of disappearance is so shocking and difficult to comprehend because the violence is rationalised, professionalised and calculated. It is never random, even if its targets appear to have been arbitrarily selected. Its currency is emotional fear that infects the population like a virus, creating a climate of suspicion and betrayal.</p>
<p>While the modern era of state-led policies of disappearance developed through the countries of South and Central America, the techniques were honed at the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Hemisphere_Institute_for_Security_Cooperation">School of the Americas</a> (now renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation), a US Defense Department training facility at Fort Benning in Columbus, Georgia.</p>
<p>For 21 years, South American countries were subject to a covert campaign of political repression and state terrorism coordinated by the CIA and characterised by frequent coups and assassinations. During the darker chapters of this <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Condor">Operation Condor</a>, policies of violence against the US’s ideological leftwing enemies spread throughout the continent’s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Cone">southern cone</a> like wildfire. Military generals and officers from Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia and later Brazil all trained at the infamous US facility, learning the most effective strategies to destroy opposition and govern their people by instilling a culture of everyday fear.</p>
<p>Some <a href="https://bennorton.com/victims-of-operation-condor-by-country/">estimates</a> put the number of enforced disappearances directly linked to this operation at around 80,000, including a staggering 30,000 bodies <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/program/inside-story-america/2013/3/6/tracing-the-shadows-of-operation-condor">taken from the streets of Argentina</a>. While these included known activists and prominent spokespersons demanding social justice and reform, others who only had a very tentative opposition to the military junta and its neoliberal aspirations were among the victims.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">The story of Operation Condor (Al Jazeera English)</span></figcaption>
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<p>Indeed, the terms “disappeared” and “disappearance” first entered the political lexicon during Argentina’s dictatorship of the mid-1970s, when the state – backed by the US in its so-called “<a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Dirty-War">dirty war</a>” – kidnapped and killed those it perceived to be a threat to its operations and ideological foundations, literally disappearing their bodies.</p>
<p>Beyond the official remit of Condor, the same ideologically driven violence extended throughout the Americas, leaving no country untouched. In Colombia, the government’s <a href="https://www.unidadvictimas.gov.co/en/unit/units-review/28230">victims’ unit</a> has registered more than 45,000 victims dating back to the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2665910722000330">1970s</a>, although another <a href="https://www.abcolombia.org.uk/enforced-disappearances-in-colombia-still-an-ongoing-issue/">government database</a> puts the number of missing above 110,000. While, as in Argentina, many victims were disappeared by the Colombian state and associated right-wing paramilitary organisations, this was compounded by use of similar tactics by leftist guerrilla organisations and narcotrafficking cartels.</p>
<p>Operation Condor was thus at the heart of a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/nov/18/us-military-usa">wider security project</a> through which the violence of disappearance became a normalised practice. While not part of the official programme, more Colombian military officials trained at the School of the Americas than any other nation.</p>
<p>In many cases, the disappeared would vanish without any witnesses to their abduction. People were swiftly taken from the streets and thrown into cars – in Argentina, Ford Falcons became a <a href="https://medium.com/history-on-wheels/the-curse-of-the-ford-falcon-36cda9a8f97f#:%7E:text=The%20Ford%20factory%20in%20General,tortured%20there%20by%20the%20military.">symbol of terror</a> – or stolen from their beds in the solitude of the night.</p>
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<p><strong><em>This article is part of Conversation Insights</em></strong>
<br><em>The Insights team generates <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/insights-series-71218">long-form journalism</a> derived from interdisciplinary research. The team is working with academics from different backgrounds who have been engaged in projects aimed at tackling societal and scientific challenges.</em></p>
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<p>Often, this would be followed by blanket denials, even that a person had actually disappeared, by those in power. But as events in Colombia and (more recently) Mexico have shown, there is sometimes a need to return a mutilated body to “remind” people of the likely horror. In the infamous case of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/26/world/americas/Ayotzinapa-mexico-students-anniversary.html">43 student teachers</a> who went missing in the Mexican state of Guerrero in 2017, the <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2016/07/12/americas/julio-cesar-mondragon-fontes-missing-students-mexico/index.html">brutally tortured body</a> of another student teacher, Julio César Mondragón Fontes, was discovered the next day. The whereabouts of his fellow students are still unknown.</p>
<p>As I have <a href="https://blog.lareviewofbooks.org/essays/remembering-43/">written elsewhere</a>, what especially marks out this violence is the way the fight for truth and memorialisation for the missing has become a key battleground. Yet even leftist leaders such as <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/7/14/mexico-president-continues-attacks-on-opposition-despite-order">Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador</a>, Mexico’s president since 2018, show limits to what the state is willing to concede, as noted by his recent <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/7/27/amlo-defends-mexicos-military-after-report-on-missing-students-case">exoneration of the military</a> which, according to the victims’ families, had played an integral role in this forced abduction.</p>
<p>Beyond the spectacle of violence, there is a deeper reason why disappearance is so effective as a political and psychological strategy. Psychologically, it plays into the most primal of human fears: to vanish without a trace. It induces what the academic <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/31/obituaries/jean-franco-dead.html">Jean Franco</a> <a href="https://www.dukeupress.edu/cruel-modernity">called</a> a “triple deprivation – of body, of mourning, of burial”.</p>
<p>In the act of disappearing life, not only is there a denial of justice that requires the reappearance of victims’ bodies for a crime to be proven. There is also a denial of the political process that demands negotiation with past tragedies so the future can be steered in a better direction. </p>
<p>This is what makes disappearance a true crime against humanity: it is a form of violence that makes it hard to restore something of the human condition. Not only does it deny a person the most basic right to belong to the world, it creates an economy of terror that lives on in the minds of relatives and friends – a form of “future violence”.</p>
<h2>Trained in psychological warfare</h2>
<p>Since the early 1990s in zones of conflict and crisis, the lines between state and non-state actors, along with regulated versus illicit economies, have become almost impossible to separate.</p>
<p>Organisations such as <a href="https://theconversation.com/inside-a-reintegration-camp-for-colombias-ex-guerrilla-fighters-words-of-reconciliation-are-our-only-weapons-now-184074">the Farc in Colombia</a> illustrate the difficulties of distinguishing between ideological groups and mere criminal organisations. In Mexico, <a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/us/worse-than-any-horror-film-inside-a-los-zetas-cartel-kitchen-1.4225436">Los Zetas</a> – acknowledged to be the most violent of all the world’s drug cartels – reveal an even more fraught, state-sponsored past. This group’s origins can be dated to the early 1990s, when a group of commandos from the <a href="https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuerpo_de_Fuerzas_Especiales_de_M%C3%A9xico">Cuerpo de Fuerzas Especiales</a> (Mexican special forces) broke away from the state and used their knowledge and training to devastating effect.</p>
<p>Originally set up to provide a rapid security response during the 1986 World Cup held in the country, this special forces unit would soon be attacking the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2018/feb/17/mexico-zapatistas-rebels-24-years-mountain-strongholds">Zapatistas</a>, an Indigenous movement in the southern state of Chiapas that itself became committed to non-violence. Los Zetas’ deployment into the remote jungle regions quickly resulted in a horrifying slaughter of 30 captured Indigenous “rebels”, who were found by the side of a river with their ears and noses cut off.</p>
<p>Later, the same unit – a number of whom were trained in the US School of the Americas – became a key element of Mexico’s <a href="https://www.elmundo.es/america/2013/07/16/mexico/1373982845.html">war on drugs</a>, triggering a notable acceleration in disappearances. What made Los Zetas especially notorious was the brutality and scale of the violence, including attempted mass killings such as the grenade attacks on <a href="https://www.jornada.com.mx/2008/09/27/index.php?section=politica&article=003n1pol">Independence Day in Morena</a> in 2008, which injured more than 100. Another favoured tactic was to hang bodies from bridges and leave beheaded and dismembered bodies in discoverable locations.</p>
<p>That members of Los Zetas, like previous graduates from the School of the Americas, were trained in psychological warfare is not incidental. It is not enough to simply eliminate opposition. Fear works by having persons change their behaviour before they have even considered acting in a particular way. The threat of more violence stops agency and freedom dead in their tracks.</p>
<p>Today, this strategy appears largely immune to political change. While the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/sep/18/silence-us-backed-coup-evo-morales-bolivia-american-states">US-supported ousting</a> of the democratically elected Evo Morales in Bolivia in 2019 showed it was still business as usual in the geopolitical displacement of Latin American populist leaders, in Mexico, despite a much-vaunted <a href="https://www.wilsoncenter.org/article/democratizing-mexican-politics-1982-2012">process of democratisation</a>, cases of disappearance have increased exponentially.</p>
<p>Since 2006, the number of enforced disappearances in Mexico reported by Human Rights Watch <a href="https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2023/country-chapters/mexico.">exceeds 100,000</a>. Over the same period, more than <a href="https://adondevanlosdesaparecidos.org/2021/10/08/mexico-rebasa-las-4-mil-fosas-clandestinas-40-se-encontraron-en-este-sexenio/#:%7E:text=Compartir%3A,una%20tercera%20parte%20de%20esta">4,000 unmarked graves</a> have been discovered around the country. A significant number of these victims are young women and people from other vulnerable groups including children and migrants. But the disappearance of nearly 150 journalists highlights the policy of silencing that goes with it. Today, Mexico is <a href="https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2023/country-chapters/mexico#:%7E:text=Mexico%20is%20one%20of%20the%20most%20dangerous%20countries%20in%20the,Many%20journalists%20self%2Dcensor.">one of the most dangerous places in the world</a> to try to report the truth.</p>
<p>Journalists such as <a href="https://courier.unesco.org/en/articles/lydia-cacho-ribeiro-international-visibility-shield-threatened-journalists">Lydia Cacho</a> and <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/anabel-h%C3%A9rnandez-condemns-murder-of-journalist-mar%C3%ADa-elena-ferral-in-veracruz/a-52972126">Anabel Hernandez</a> continue to risk their lives to expose the role that corruption plays in the organisation of disappearances. In <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/16/nyregion/garcia-luna-trial-mexico-court.html">February 2023</a>, Mexico’s secretary of public security, Genaro García Luna – once the highest-ranking law officer in the fight against the country’s drug gangs – was convicted for being on the payroll of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinaloa_Cartel">Sinaloa cartel</a>. More recently, this cartel has brought its violence to the state of Zacatecas, making it the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/may/13/mexico-city-fresnillo-cartel-kidnappings-violence">global epicentre for disappearance</a>, with one person vanishing every day there in 2023.</p>
<h2>The impact of disappearance on loved ones</h2>
<p>Throughout history, state-sponsored disappearance has proved extremely effective in quietening resistance and governing through fear. But the organisation of disappearance takes a great deal of political and financial investment – requiring considerable organisation, planning and the provision of alibis. It also takes significant effort to prevent bodies from being found, especially in a digital age when details of such crimes can be more easily shared.</p>
<p>However, digital technology also presents a significant challenge for the families searching for their loved ones, and those trying to deal with the legacies of disappearance.</p>
<p>While groups working on behalf of the disappeared use the internet and social media to disseminate information and maintain visibility, our interviews reveal strong suspicion of communication devices and the growing “surveillance state”. The digital revolution has given more power to those who master the technology. Disappearance has taken new forms, enabled by <a href="https://english.elpais.com/usa/2022-02-01/drones-the-latest-weapon-of-mexicos-cartels.html">tracking systems</a> such as drones that can be subsequently erased. </p>
<p>Despite these dangers, we monitor many courageous attempts by communities who continue to demand answers to what happened to their disappeared. In Mexico alone, there are some 130 “<a href="https://www.reforma.com/fallan-busquedas-arman-colectivos/ar2084682">search collectives</a>” tasked with trying to recover the remains of the missing. As one family member told us: “The whole country is a clandestine grave.”</p>
<p>According to <a href="https://english.elpais.com/international/2022-06-04/the-seeking-mothers-of-latin-america-without-fear-and-with-memory.html">Ceci Flores</a>, leader of the <a href="https://www.laprensalatina.com/human-remains-found-by-searching-mother-in-mexico-do-not-belong-to-missing-son/#:%7E:text=Currently%2C%20the%20searching%20mothers%20of,found%20dead%20in%20clandestine%20graves.">searching mothers of Sonora</a> in northern Mexico:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We have the idea that we know where they pick up [kidnap] our children, but we do not know where they are going to leave them. So, if we have to tour the entire Mexican republic, we are going to do it. And if I don’t find my son, maybe I will find another mother’s son.</p>
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<p>Theirs is a labour of care which, in the act of searching, refuses to accept the absence. But this work is laborious and financially burdening, not to mention emotionally exhausting. The collectives depend on tip-offs, though often they simply search abandoned places, disused wells, jungled forests and open fields.</p>
<p>There are certain clues they look for, including traces of the lime that is frequently used to cover bodies and accelerate their decomposition. Their tools are rudimentary – they often rely on the harrowing insertion of a thin metal pole, a <em>varilla</em>, into the ground to release the potential stench of death. Many testimonies from these searching collectives speak of how the decomposing remains of a person gives off its own unique odour.</p>
<p>Aside from the fact that those searching for the disappeared often end up being violently threatened and even disappearing themselves, the psychological impact demands a more expansive appreciation of the suffering they endure. <a href="https://www.mqup.ca/state-of-disappearance-products-9780228018964.php?page_id=46&*">Our research</a> has repeatedly found that living with disappearance can be truly unbearable, for the violence it passes on to others offers no kind of resolution and no prospect of recovery. The memory of loss places a perverse kind of guilt on the shoulders of family members.</p>
<p>Psychological studies of <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7408511/">families dealing with missing persons</a> have spoken of a “vortex of grief”. Dealing with what the International Red Cross identifies as “<a href="https://international-review.icrc.org/sites/default/files/irrc_99_905_4.pdf">ambiguous loss</a>” demands new therapeutic responses that appreciate the lasting effects of this absence. Close relatives are often deeply traumatised and <a href="https://www.interventionjournal.org/article.asp?issn=1571-8883;year=2020;volume=18;issue=2;spage=139;epage=149;aulast=Smid">haunted by “intrusive memories”</a>. Studies of those living in the aftermath of the Holocaust have shown how trauma can also be <a href="https://www.biologicalpsychiatryjournal.com/article/S0006-3223(15)00652-6/fulltext">transmitted across generations</a>.</p>
<p>Yet despite all this evidence, not enough attention is paid to the lasting psychological and social impacts on communities living with disappearance. Part of the problem is that many of these communities are desperately poor and already disenfranchised. In life they are often forgotten, so is it any wonder that in death they are denied?</p>
<h2>The struggle for justice</h2>
<p>Arguably, the most challenging obstacle to overcome when dealing with the crime of disappearance is the pervading culture of impunity that exists in many countries. As the <a href="https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/treatybodyexternal/SessionDetails1.aspx?SessionID=2531&Lang=en">UN Committee on Enforced Disappearance noted</a> in Mexico in 2022, where as few as 2% of all criminal cases result in a prosecution:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Impunity in Mexico is a structural feature that favours the reproduction and cover-up of enforced disappearances. It creates threats and anxiety to the victims, those defending and promoting their rights, public servants searching for the disappeared and investigating their cases, and society as a whole.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>There are, however, notable exceptions. In Argentina, as a result of a campaign by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mothers_of_the_Plaza_de_Mayo">Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo</a> (the first major group to organise against the 1970s military regime’s human rights violations), the <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/international-convention-protection-all-persons-enforced">International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance</a> was established in 2010. Since then, some of those involved in the organisation and enactment of the country’s notorious “<a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/argentina-death-flight-plane-dictatorship-returned-home-florida/#:%7E:text=Human%20rights%20groups%20estimate%2030%2C000,took%20place%20at%20least%20weekly.">death flights</a>” have been brought to justice. So has <a href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-oct-10-fg-priest10-story.html">Christian von Wernich</a>, a former chaplain in Buenos Aires who supplied details of the confessions he took to the authorities, who then used the information to target new victims.</p>
<p>But perhaps the most high-profile example of justice achieved was the (initial) conviction of Guatemala’s former dictator, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/apr/02/gen-efrain-rios-montt-obituary">Efraín Ríos Montt</a>, for genocide and crimes against humanity in 2013. Montt was yet another graduate of the School of the Americas, alongside the likes of Salvadorian death squad leader <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roberto_D%27Aubuisson">Roberto D’Aubuisson</a> and Argentine junta leader <a href="https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopoldo_Galtieri">Leopoldo Galtieri</a>.</p>
<p>Montt came to power following another US-backed coup in 1982, and would oversee the disappearance of an estimated 40,000 Guatemalans, largely from the nation’s Indigenous Maya population. Roddy Brett from the University of Bristol was a director of the team that prepared the legal investigation against Guatemala’s former dictator. Commenting on his conviction, Brett explains:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Montt’s imprisonment in 2013 was the first time a domestic court of law in Latin America had convicted a former head of state for genocide. Through their successful search for justice, Indigenous survivors of Guatemala’s genocide obliterated the military’s wall of denial and wrote themselves into history. However, opposition to the verdict and its subsequent reversal ten days later was a major, if not unexpected, set-back for those seeking legal recourse for the disappeared.</p>
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<h2>The power of art to represent loss</h2>
<p>In June 2023, Argentina <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/6/5/the-proof-we-were-missing-death-flight-returns-toargentina">repatriated a plane from the US</a> that had been used in the campaign of death flights, in which victims were thrown from the air while still conscious. The extent of this strategy was only properly understood when <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2023/06/05/argentinian-death-flight-plane-to-be-displayed-at-buenos-aires-museum_6029141_4.html#:%7E:text=On%20December%2014%2C%201977%2C%20at,bodies%20of%2012%20political%20opponents.">bodies started washing up</a> on the shores of the Rio de la Plata in December 1977 as a result of a freak weather pattern. </p>
<p>The repatriated plane will soon go on display at the former navy and mechanics school in Buenos Aires (now the <a href="https://www.argentina.gob.ar/derechoshumanos/museo-sitio-de-memoria-esma/en">ESMA Museum and Site of Memory</a>), a clandestine detention facility in which many of the disappeared were held before their disposal.</p>
<p>The re-emergence of such items, which also includes a fleet of <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/argentina-dictatorship-falcon-idUSL2E8QR0OQ20120327">Ford Falcons</a> used by the death squads, highlights the importance of material objects that give at least some visible form to the violence of absence. In the same way, it is understandable why we see so many families and campaigners harnessing the power of art to represent their loss.</p>
<p>There can be no peace at a macro level if individuals and communities remain traumatised by wounds that cannot heal because of a gaping absence. Josefina Echavarria Alvarez, director of the <a href="https://peaceaccords.nd.edu/">Peace Accords Matrix</a> at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, offered this perspective in relation to the work of the <a href="https://www.abcolombia.org.uk/truth-commission-of-colombia-executive-summary/">Colombia Truth Commission</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>What I have seen in my work as peace educator over decades in various post-war contexts has been the importance of art-based responses … Arts-based practices are central – not peripheral – to peace building, to rebuilding relationships after war and changing the dynamics of human interaction, especially with those who have been historically separated from us.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Art reveals better than anything the spirit of freedom. It is no coincidence that the Nazis put the so-called “<a href="https://heni.com/talks/degenerate-art">degenerate artists</a>” on trial, nor that the Pinochet regime disappeared the musician <a href="https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20200812-vctor-jara-the-folk-singer-murdered-for-his-music">Víctor Jara</a>, whose tortured and bullet-ridden body was <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/ABC_Univision/ABC_Univision/murdered-chilean-singers-family-seeks-justice-us/story?id=20202252">discovered</a> days after his abduction.</p>
<p>Jara’s creative sensibility marked him as a prime enemy of the Chilean state. There is nothing an authoritarian personality despises more than free expression and creation, for it is the essence of resistance. Moreover, through art, difficult conversations become possible. A door is opened that may allow something of the human to be recovered.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Trailer for Patricio Guzmán’s Nostalgia for the Light.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Notable here is Chilean film director Patricio Guzmán’s documentary <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/jul/12/nostalgia-for-the-light-review">Nostalgia for the Light</a> (2010), which brings us back to the barren emptiness of the Atacama plains and the <a href="https://returnatacama.hemi.press/chapter/labours-made-visible-the-women-of-calama-and-everyone-has-fallen-except-us-fallen/">women of Calama</a>. What begins as an astronomical mediation on the telescoping search of distant galaxies and stars, slowly turns the lens on to the uninhabitable desert and the appearance of distant figures: the women still searching amongst the dust for the remains for their husbands.</p>
<p>Decades of searching mean they can easily tell the difference between white stones and human fragments. Theirs is a story of defiance in a place where rains have refused to fall for more than a millennia. But it is also a story revealing the chasm of power that reaches across time. “I wish telescopes didn’t just look at the sky, but could go through the earth to be able to locate [the bodies],” one of the women laments as she goes through the impossible motions of another day.</p>
<p>The first stage of our <a href="https://www.historiesofviolence.com/artistaswitness">State of Disappearance project</a> culminates with an exhibition by the Mexican abstract artist <a href="https://www.chantal-meza.com/biography">Chantal Meza</a>. Our project, which she co-directs, began as a result of the artistic demand to respond to the horrors of enforced disappearance in Meza’s country, and has since instigated a series of international collaborations.</p>
<p>Bringing together many respected academics, dancers, musicians and advocacy groups, the challenge we all confronted was largely the same: what can art, politics and society do when the body of the human is denied? The project doesn’t claim to resolve this, nor has it sought to impose any political doctrine, but tries to open up new conversations on what disappearance means, the forms it takes, and how to better imagine our response.</p>
<p>Meza confronts these questions in 75 works that explore themes of obscurity, mental anguish, ghosting, the fragmentation of life, and the voiding of existence. The heart of this work, she explains, is making visible what has been forgotten so that we might rethink what humanity means:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Disappearance constitutes a form of violence that rips open a wound in time. It weaponises the visual, as the terror it induces becomes prey to what is no longer seen. Part of the demand for justice, then, has to concern memory. This means to humbly consider the role of visual testimony, which the arts can help with.</p>
<p>As artists, we can only venture to wonder the meaning of disappearance – whether in brushstrokes, dancing movements, musical compositions or the written word. But our lost worlds and the limits of our straight answers can be fiercely poured into those creations. Maybe through our encounters with artists and other collaborations, we find it easier to appear and disappear – to be never found, but just to leave a trace.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><em><a href="https://www.historiesofviolence.com/stateofdisappearance">The State of Disappearance exhibition</a>, featuring the works of Chantal Meza, is at Bristol’s Centrespace art gallery from October 28 to November 8 2023</em></p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption"></span>
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<p><em>For you: more from our <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/insights-series-71218?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK">Insights series</a>:</em></p>
<ul>
<li><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/my-home-city-was-destroyed-by-war-but-i-will-not-lose-hope-how-modern-warfare-turns-neighbourhoods-into-battlefields-211627?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK">‘My home city was destroyed by war but I will not lose hope’ – how modern warfare turns neighbourhoods into battlefields</a></em></p></li>
<li><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/womens-secret-war-the-inside-story-of-how-the-us-military-sent-female-soldiers-on-covert-combat-missions-to-afghanistan-205669?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK">Women’s secret war: the inside story of how the US military sent female soldiers on covert combat missions to Afghanistan
</a></em></p></li>
<li><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/inside-a-reintegration-camp-for-colombias-ex-guerrilla-fighters-words-of-reconciliation-are-our-only-weapons-now-184074?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK">Inside a reintegration camp for Colombia’s ex-guerrilla fighters: ‘Words of reconciliation are our only weapons now’
</a></em></p></li>
</ul>
<p><em>To hear about new Insights articles, join the hundreds of thousands of people who value The Conversation’s evidence-based news. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/the-daily-newsletter-2?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK"><strong>Subscribe to our newsletter</strong></a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213014/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brad Evans does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
State-sponsored disappearance plays into the most primal of human fears – to vanish without a trace. The modern era started with Chile’s US-backed coup on September 11 1973
Brad Evans, Professor in Political Violence, University of Bath
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/210662
2023-08-24T22:28:31Z
2023-08-24T22:28:31Z
Crowd-sourced science sheds light on how new species form across space and time
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543866/original/file-20230822-29-z0p0c4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C6016%2C4016&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The fall webworm is a moth found from Mexico to Canada.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/crowd-sourced-science-sheds-light-on-how-new-species-form-across-space-and-time" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Imagine a jungle. It’s probably a lush forest, filled with different bird songs and the hum of thousands of different kinds of insects. Now imagine a tundra: barren, windswept terrain with relatively few kinds of plants or animals. </p>
<p>These two places highlight an interesting phenomenon — that some places on Earth have far more species than others. In fact, the distribution of species across the globe follows a curiously consistent pattern: generally, there are more species closer to the equator and fewer as you move towards the poles. This “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.34.012103.144032">latitudinal biodiversity gradient</a>” can be observed across many different groups of organisms over time.</p>
<p>One possible explanation for the presence of more species closer to the equator is that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1461-0248.2007.01020.x">changes in climate from the equator to the poles affects the ability of new species to evolve</a> — a process called <a href="https://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/speciation-the-origin-of-new-species-26230527/">speciation</a>.</p>
<h2>Diversity in action</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.marshall-lab.com/">Our research team at the University of British Columbia</a> turned to unique tools and species to track exactly how climate influences evolution, and what this means for where new species appear. And we conducted this research while we were stuck at home during COVID-19 lockdowns. </p>
<p>The fall webworm is a moth found from Mexico to Canada (a range of almost 4,000 km) whose caterpillars have either black or red heads. While this might seem like a subtle difference, caterpillars with these different colours seem to have different behaviours and appear at different times of the year, and genetic studies suggest that they are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.3334">evolving into different species</a>. </p>
<p>This moth is also found throughout vastly different climates, which allowed us to explore how latitude and climate might be affecting their ability to turn from one species into two. </p>
<p>However, we had a problem: with global lockdowns and travel restrictions, we couldn’t even leave our homes, much less sample caterpillars across an entire continent. So, we turned to crowd-sourced science. Some apps and websites use user-uploaded photos or audio clips to identify flora and fauna, creating huge databases of nature observations. </p>
<p>Thanks to backyard observers, we could access thousands of observations across North America from the comfort of our homes to begin investigating speciation on a large geographic scale.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/CoyZlV6v6-E","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<h2>Birth of new species</h2>
<p>The process of speciation occurs when two groups of organisms belonging to the same species are <a href="https://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/speciation-the-origin-of-new-species-26230527/">separated by a barrier that prevents them from reproducing</a>. The most well-known way that this can occur is through a physical barrier between the groups, like a mountain range or a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-294X.2006.02907.x">highway</a>. </p>
<p>For the fall webworm, the barrier causing them to become two different species is time. In general, moth species only appear and reproduce during the summer, and when they do, they breed for only a few weeks, at most.</p>
<p>The red-headed and the black-headed fall webworms tend to emerge and reproduce at different times during the summer, and this time gap <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.3334">creates a barrier that is causing them to become two different species</a>. </p>
<p>Summers toward the equator tend to be much longer, so the fall webworms go through more life cycles in a year compared to northern populations, which are only able to breed once during short summers. If the red-headed and black-headed fall webworms closer to the equator <a href="https://doi.org/10.1515/9780691185491-006">have more flexibility in when they can breed, they may be able to avoid each other in time better</a>, making speciation more effective. </p>
<h2>Caterpillars in a lockdown</h2>
<p>Thanks to the fall webworm’s fluffy appearance and garden pest status, thousands of geotagged and dated photographs were available on the crowd-sourced science site <a href="https://www.inaturalist.org/">iNaturalist</a>. We reviewed <a href="https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/the-great-webworm-hunt">11,000 fall webworm photos</a> from over 7,000 users, manually checking the thousands of photographs for whether the caterpillar was red- or black-headed. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543867/original/file-20230822-15-7ocpm1.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="a caterpillar on a white wall" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543867/original/file-20230822-15-7ocpm1.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543867/original/file-20230822-15-7ocpm1.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543867/original/file-20230822-15-7ocpm1.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543867/original/file-20230822-15-7ocpm1.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543867/original/file-20230822-15-7ocpm1.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543867/original/file-20230822-15-7ocpm1.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543867/original/file-20230822-15-7ocpm1.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A photograph of a fall webworm caterpillar uploaded by a user in Sydney, N.S., on iNaturalist.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.inaturalist.org/photos/312672658">(Sarah Smith/iNaturalist)</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While quite a feat, these methods gave us a window into fall webworm populations from Florida to Ontario. To see how speciation was changing across latitudes, we compiled the times and dates each fall webworm photograph was taken and measured the colours of the caterpillars from each picture. </p>
<p>Using all these observations, we found that in more northerly regions with short summers, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0288415">the red-headed and black-headed fall webworm caterpillars were forced to breed at the same time and had more similar colouration</a>. This suggests that more breeding was occurring between the groups, and they looked and acted more like a single species. </p>
<p>However, in their southern range, the black- and red-headed caterpillars were able to separate their generations more and had less similar colouration, meaning they may be further along in the process of becoming two species.</p>
<h2>Climate and diversity</h2>
<p>We found that differences in climate from the equator to the poles affect how well species can evolve when time is the barrier, mirroring the latitudinal biodiversity gradient. In short, climate can change how easily species form in the first place. </p>
<p>There are approximately <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/number-of-described-species?country=Fishes%7EInsects%7EReptiles%7EMammals%7EBirds%7EAmphibians%7ECorals%7EMolluscs%7ECrustaceans%7EArachnids%7EBrown+algae%7EFerns+and+Allies%7EAll+groups">2.1 million classified species on Earth, and over one million of these are insects</a> (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.333.6046.1083">with many millions more undiscovered</a>), making them the most diverse animals on the planet. </p>
<p>Species are migrating, either as <a href="http://www.iucngisd.org/gisd/">invasive species</a> coming to new places, or <a href="https://phys.org/news/2021-04-climate-marine-species-poleward.html">moving poleward to escape warming climates</a>. </p>
<p>Humans have an immense effect on our planet’s ecosystems, and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2016.0600">new species may be forming just as quickly as they disappear</a>. So, to understand processes driving biodiversity on Earth, we need to understand how those processes impact the creatures that make up much of that biodiversity.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210662/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Katie Marshall receives funding from the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. She is affiliated with with the Canadian Society of Zoologists and the BC Humanist Association. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emily Black receives funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and Natural Resources Canada. </span></em></p>
Crowd-sourcing images of caterpillars from nature apps allowed researchers to study the emergence of a new species of caterpillar.
Katie Marshall, Associate professor, Zoology, University of British Columbia
Emily Black, Master of Science student, Zoology, University of British Columbia
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/211869
2023-08-18T21:50:54Z
2023-08-18T21:50:54Z
Tropical Storm Hilary pounds Southern California with heavy rain, flash flooding
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543534/original/file-20230818-19-oy7ob6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=975%2C10%2C2274%2C1368&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Hurricane Hilary was a powerful Category 4 storm as it headed for Baja California on Aug. 18, 2023.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.star.nesdis.noaa.gov/goes/">NOAA NESDIS</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Tropical Storm Hilary <a href="https://apnews.com/article/hilary-tropical-storm-flooding-california-mexico-f89aeddeb62d55c935699ac81ca85f1d">made landfall</a> on Mexico’s Baja peninsula, and its damaging wind and heavy rainfall moved <a href="https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/text/WTUS86-KLOX.shtml">into Southern California</a> on <a href="https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_ep4+shtml/204813.shtml?cone#contents">Aug. 20, 2023</a>. For the <a href="https://twitter.com/NWSSanDiego/status/1692564593132933367">first time ever</a>, the National Hurricane Center had <a href="https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/2023/ep09/ep092023.public.011.shtml?">issued a tropical storm watch</a> for large parts of Southern California. Forecasters warned of a “<a href="https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/2023/ep09/ep092023.discus.014.shtml?">potentially historic</a> amount of rainfall,” and the governors of <a href="https://www.gov.ca.gov/2023/08/19/governor-newsom-proclaims-state-of-emergency-as-hurricane-hilary-approaches-california/">California</a> and <a href="https://carsonnow.org/story/08/20/2023/governor-lombardo-declares-state-emergency-across-nevada-due-hurricane-hilary">Nevada</a> declared states of emergency.</em></p>
<p><em>Hurricane scientist <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=5uEy_XoAAAAJ&hl=en">Nick Grondin</a> explained ahead of landfall why <a href="https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/2023/HILARY.shtml?">the storm</a>, with help from El Niño and a heat dome over much of the country, could bring <a href="https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/2023/ep09/ep092023.public.011.shtml?">flash flooding</a>, wind damage and mudslides to the region.</em></p>
<h2>How rare are tropical storms in the Southwest?</h2>
<p>California had only one confirmed tropical storm landfall in the past. It was in September 1939 and called <a href="https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/150-years/sd-me-150-years-september-26-htmlstory.html">the Long Beach Tropical Storm</a>. It caused <a href="https://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/Landsea/chenowethlandsea.pdf">about US$2 million dollars</a> in damage in the Los Angeles area – that would be about $44 million today. A <a href="https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-85-11-1689">hurricane in 1858</a> came close but didn’t make landfall, though its winds did significant damage to San Diego.</p>
<p>What the Southwest does see fairly regularly are the remnants of tropical cyclones, storms that continue on after a tropical cyclone loses its surface circulation. These remnant storms are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1175/2010MWR3389.1">more common</a> in the region than people might think. </p>
<p>Just last year, <a href="https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/tcr/EP122022_Kay.pdf">Hurricane Kay</a> took a similar track to the one Hurricane Hilary is on and brought significant rainfall to Southern California and Arizona. Famously, <a href="https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/tropical/rain/nora1997.html">Hurricane Nora in 1997</a> made landfall in Mexico’s Baja California and kept moving north, bringing tropical storm-force winds to California and widespread flooding that caused <a href="https://www.weather.gov/media/hazstat/sum97.pdf">hundreds of millions of dollars in damage</a>, particularly to fruit trees <a href="https://www.weather.gov/media/hazstat/sum97.pdf">and agriculture</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543551/original/file-20230819-19-dbyiqs.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A map shows rainfall forecast across much of Southern California and into Arizona and Nevada." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543551/original/file-20230819-19-dbyiqs.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543551/original/file-20230819-19-dbyiqs.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543551/original/file-20230819-19-dbyiqs.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543551/original/file-20230819-19-dbyiqs.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543551/original/file-20230819-19-dbyiqs.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=605&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543551/original/file-20230819-19-dbyiqs.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=605&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543551/original/file-20230819-19-dbyiqs.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=605&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The National Hurricane Center’s three-day rainfall forecast issued Aug. 19, 2023, shows rainfall totals that are well above what some areas typically receive in a year.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_ep4+shtml/175024.shtml?rainqpf#contents">National Hurricane Center</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A study led by atmospheric scientist <a href="https://scholar.google.com.au/citations?user=rHHmqXgAAAAJ&hl=en">Elizabeth Ritchie</a> in 2011 found that, on average, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1175/2010MWR3389.1">about 3.1 remnant systems</a> from tropical cyclones affected the U.S. Southwest each year from 1992 to 2005. That’s a short record, but it gives you an idea of the frequency.</p>
<p>Typically, the remnants of tropical cyclones don’t go beyond California, Nevada and Arizona, <a href="https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/tropical/rain/tcrainfall.html">though it wouldn’t be unprecedented</a>. In this case, forecasters expect the effects to extend far north. The National Hurricane Center on Aug. 18 projected at least a <a href="https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_ep4+shtml/175024.shtml?ero#contents">moderate risk of flooding</a> across large parts of Southern California, southern Nevada and far-western Arizona, and a high risk of flooding for regions east of San Diego.</p>
<h2>What’s making this storm so unusual?</h2>
<p>One influence is the <a href="https://theconversation.com/el-nino-is-back-thats-good-news-or-bad-news-depending-on-where-you-live-205974">El Niño climate pattern</a> this year, which is showing signs of strengthening in the Pacific. Another, which might be less intuitive, is the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2023/08/17/heat-wave-texas-excessive-heat-warning/">heat dome over much of the U.S.</a></p>
<p>During El Niño, the tropical Pacific is warmer than normal, and both the eastern and central Pacific tend to be more active with storms, as we saw in 2015 and 1997. Generally, hurricanes need <a href="https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/facts/hurricanes.html">at least 80 degrees</a> Fahrenheit (27 degrees Celsius) to maintain their intensity. Normally, the waters off Southern California <a href="https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/coastal-water-temperature-guide/spac.html">are much cooler</a>. But with the high initial intensity of Hurricane Hilary over warm water to the south, and the fact that the storm is moving fast, forecasters think it might be able to survive the cooler water.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1691594717115335132"}"></div></p>
<p>The influence of the heat dome is interesting. Meteorology researcher <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=16yNCisAAAAJ&hl=en">Kimberly Wood</a> published a fantastic thread on X, formerly known as Twitter, describing the <a href="https://twitter.com/DrKimWood/status/1691956790144155962">large-scale pattern around similar storms</a> that have affected the southwestern United States. A common thread with these storms is the presence of a ridge, or high-pressure system, in the central U.S. When you have a high-pressure system like the heat dome covering much of the country, air is pushed down and warms significantly. Air around this ridge is moving clockwise. Meanwhile, a low-pressure system is over the Pacific Ocean with winds rotating counterclockwise. The result is that these <a href="https://twitter.com/WeatherProf/status/1691594717115335132">winds are likely to accelerate Hilary northward</a> into California.</p>
<p>Despite the rarity of tropical cyclones reaching California, numerical weather prediction models since the storm’s formation have generally shown Hilary likely to accelerate along the west coast of Baja California and push into Southern California.</p>
<h2>What are the risks?</h2>
<p>The threat of tropical storm-force winds led the National Hurricane Center to issue its <a href="https://twitter.com/NWSSanDiego/status/1692564593132933367">first-ever tropical storm watch</a> for Southern California on Aug. 18. However, water is almost always the primary concern with tropical storms. In California, that can mean flash flooding from extreme rainfall enhanced by mountains.</p>
<p>When a tropical storm plows up on a mountain, that can lead to more lifting, more condensation aloft and more rainfall than might otherwise be expected. It happened with <a href="https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/tcr/EP142018_Lane.pdf">Hurricane Lane in Hawaii</a> in 2018 and can also happen in other tropical cyclone-prone locations with significant orographic, or mountain, effects, such as the west coast of Mexico.</p>
<p>That can mean dangerous flash flooding from the runoff. It can also have a secondary hazard – mudslides, <a href="https://twitter.com/CAL_FIRE/status/1692596995330814311">including in areas recovering from wildfires</a>.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1692596995330814311"}"></div></p>
<p>In dry areas, heavy downpours can also trigger flash flooding. Forecasts showed Death Valley likely to get <a href="https://twitter.com/Climatologist49/status/1692550601677390298">more rain from the storm</a> than <a href="https://www.nps.gov/deva/planyourvisit/weather.htm">its average</a> for an entire year. Death Valley National Park warned of <a href="https://www.nps.gov/deva/planyourvisit/conditions.htm">flash flooding through Aug. 22</a> and closed its visitor centers and campgrounds. </p>
<p>Keep in mind this is still an evolving situation. Forecasts can change, and all it takes is one band of rain setting up in the right spot to cause significant flooding. Those in the path of Hilary should refer to their local weather offices for additional information. This would include local <a href="http://www.hurricanes.gov">National Weather Service</a> offices in the United States and <a href="https://smn.conagua.gob.mx/es/">Servicio Meteorológico Nacional</a> in Mexico.</p>
<p><em>This article, originally published Aug. 18, 2023, was updated with Tropical Storm Hilary making landfall.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211869/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nicholas Grondin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Forecasters warned of ‘potentially historic rainfall’ and ‘dangerous to locally catastrophic flooding.’ A hurricane scientist explains what El Niño, a heat dome and mountains have to do with the risk.
Nicholas Grondin, Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies, University of Tampa
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/210652
2023-08-04T12:28:16Z
2023-08-04T12:28:16Z
Biden’s answer to Mexican border crisis might slow crossings but is not winning support
<p>President Joe Biden has been negotiating a new deal with Mexico in the hope of mediating the long-running immigration crisis on the US southern border.</p>
<p>There is no doubt that Mexico has played a role in reducing migrant numbers on the US border since changes began in May when COVID-19 restrictions, known as Title 42, had come to an end. <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/biden-admin-says-new-immigration-policy-slashed-number-migrants-rcna90261">According</a> to Customs and Border Protection, border crossings from Mexico to the United States have recently fallen from 10,000 a day to approximately 3,500 a day.</p>
<p>Title 42 had been in place since March 2020 when the Trump administration <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/cbp-chief-defends-rapid-border-expulsions-unauthorized-crossing/story?id=72223995">acted</a> to reduce crossings, ostensibly to stop the possibility of COVID-19 coming into the country through its border with Mexico.</p>
<p>Under the new <a href="https://apnews.com/article/border-immigration-biden-mexico-a0b8f4730521d90fd5ea305e2f2cbc5e">arrangement</a>, the Mexican government has changed its <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/may/05/us-mexico-border-immigration-deal">approach</a>. During the pandemic crisis, it had agreed to accept non-Mexican migrants deported from the US that would otherwise have been transported back to their country of origin.</p>
<h2>Mexico’s role</h2>
<p>Mexico is now also <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/09/world/americas/border-mexico-us-migrants.html">transporting</a> migrants from central and southern America to Mexico’s southern region (away from the US border), and making it more difficult for non-Mexican migrants to get documentation that would allow them to travel to the Mexico-American border. </p>
<p>Under direction from Mexico’s federal government, migration offices in southern Mexico that issued temporary transportation visas have been closed, and there is a restriction on documentation that allows migrants and refugees to travel and stay in Mexico.</p>
<p>Critics of the Mexican government <a href="https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2023-04-20/mexico-president-lopez-obrador-advice-us-moral-decay">suggest</a> that the White House will refrain from questioning President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s domestic policies, which some civil liberties groups have labelled undemocratic, as a quid pro quo for the deal. </p>
<p>Earlier this year, Biden had <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2023/02/21/politics/asylum-policy-biden-administration/index.html">announced</a> his intention of implementing the asylum ineligibility rule, a policy that made undocumented migrants crossing the southern border ineligible for asylum if they had not tried to claim asylum in a country that they passed through on their way to the US.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/federal-government-is-challenging-texass-buoys-in-the-rio-grande-heres-why-these-kinds-of-border-blockades-wind-up-complicating-immigration-enforcement-210517">Federal government is challenging Texas's buoys in the Rio Grande – here’s why these kinds of border blockades wind up complicating immigration enforcement</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>But immigration advocacy groups have been critical about Biden’s policy. Alex Miller, director of the advocacy group Immigration Justice Campaign, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/immigrant-advocates-oppose-biden-policy-jim-jordan-likes-rcna72264">called</a> the changes “a stark reversal of the administration’s stated commitment to restoring access to asylum”.</p>
<p>The American Civil Liberties Union <a href="https://www.aclu.org/news/immigrants-rights/biden-must-reverse-plans-to-revive-deadly-trump-era-asylum-bans">said</a> that Biden needed to “immediately change course and make good on its pledge to ensure the most vulnerable have access to refuge”.</p>
<p>Former Mexican foreign secretary and López Obrador’s political opponent Jorge Castañeda <a href="https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2023-04-20/mexico-president-lopez-obrador-advice-us-moral-decay">said</a> that the Mexican president had got a “very good deal from both Biden and Trump, basically for doing their dirty work on immigration”. </p>
<p>In an effort to gain public support, the Biden administration has already <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/biden-admin-says-new-immigration-policy-slashed-number-migrants-rcna90261">claimed</a> that the policy is working by publicising the reduced numbers of migrant applications.</p>
<p>But Biden’s policy is now under threat after a federal judge in San Francisco <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/judge-rules-biden-immigration-policy-calling-invalid-rcna96272?cid=sm_npd_nn_tw_ma&taid=64c037ff1dc5750001428f55&utm_campaign=trueanthem&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter">ruled</a> in July that the administration’s limits on those who can apply for asylum at the southern border was “substantially and procedurally invalid”.</p>
<p>Although the US Justice Department <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/biden-asylum-restrictions-judge-rejects-border-crossings/">indicated</a> it would appeal, the ruling is yet another problem for Biden’s immigration policy, an area that is likely to be at the centre of the Republican attacks in next year’s presidential elections.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jul/25/judge-blocks-biden-administration-asylum-rule">legal decision</a> threatens to end the asylum ineligibility rule. </p>
<p>Former Democrat Representative for Texas 16th congressional district Beto O’Rourke <a href="https://twitter.com/BetoORourke/status/1683948032440639490">tweeted</a> that the ruling was “the right decision”.</p>
<p>Both immigration advocates and those calling for stricter guidelines have attacked the Biden administration’s immigration policy since the president took office.</p>
<p>In July, the Republican-led House committee on oversight and accountability <a href="https://oversight.house.gov/release/comer-green-democrats-manipulate-facts-to-cover-up-biden-border-crisis%EF%BF%BC/">accused</a> Biden of creating “the worst border crisis in American history” and that there were “historically high levels of illegal border crossings”.</p>
<p>Republican committee co-chairmen James Comer and Mark E. Green added that Biden and Alejandro Mayorkas, the secretary of homeland security, had “ignited a national security and humanitarian catastrophe at the border”.</p>
<p>Some journalists <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/05/12/title-42-end-republicans-migrant-politics-biden-00096666">think</a> immigration is Biden’s “no-win political mess”. The southern border has long been a problem for presidents. Former president Donald Trump <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBW8mTHDgvk">promised</a> to build a wall along the border.</p>
<p>Vice President Kamala Harris, who was tasked with finding a solution to the border crisis, has been the subject of much <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/dec/25/kamala-harris-migrant-buses-christmas-eve-texas">Republican criticism</a>.</p>
<p>Presidential hopeful and governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, also criticised Biden before Title 42 expired. As DeSantis signed into law a bill that funded the transportation of migrants to other states, he <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/desantis-signs-immigration-bill-slams-biden-title-42-is-set-to-expire/">claimed</a> that Biden “was sitting around doing nothing of importance or nothing of note while the American people suffer”.</p>
<p>Whether the supreme court upholds the San Francisco ruling or not, the White House seems to be in a no-win position.</p>
<h2>Immigration attitudes</h2>
<p>Recent <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2023/06/21/inflation-health-costs-partisan-cooperation-among-the-nations-top-problems/">polls</a> show that significantly more Americans that identified as Republicans (70%) felt that immigration was a major problem than Democrats (25%). Inflation (65%), affordable healthcare (64%) and partisanship (61%) are thought by all parties as the top national problems and outweigh illegal immigration (47%).</p>
<p>The border crisis is unlikely to cost Biden the election, but it will remain a thorn in the administration’s side beyond 2024. As the administration’s efforts to deal with inflation start to bring <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/paul-krugman-bidenomics-us-economy-inflation-recession-joe-biden-president-2023-6#:%7E:text=Inflation%20has%20fallen%20to%20just,inflation%20down%2C%22%20Krugman%20said.">success</a>, and with <a href="https://americanindependent.com/economy-jobs-report-unemployment-joe-biden-bureau-labor-statistics/">record</a> job creation numbers, Biden’s team seems to be confident of getting a second term next year.</p>
<p>However, what should concern them is that despite these economic improvements, <a href="https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/biden-approval-rating/">polls</a> show that his 41.4% approval rating is still just below that of Donald Trump (42%) at the same stage of his presidency.</p>
<p>Biden needs to ensure that the southern border crisis does not dominate the headlines and become the major issue of the next election. While America’s relationship with its southern neighbour is transforming as Mexico becomes a more willing partner, it is forcing Biden to renege on campaign promises and face attacks from both the political left and right.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210652/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dafydd Townley does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
US president Joe Biden is getting flak from both Democrats and Republicans over his border deal with Mexico aimed at reducing immigration.
Dafydd Townley, Teaching Fellow in International Security, University of Portsmouth
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/208022
2023-07-07T03:50:37Z
2023-07-07T03:50:37Z
Frida & Diego: Love & Revolution is insightful and beautiful; a reminder of how Anglo-American our conception of modern art is
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536217/original/file-20230707-16-pjfnqs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C8%2C1358%2C1986&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Nickolas Muray, born Szeged, Hungary 1892, died New York, United States of America 1965, Frida Kahlo on bench #5, 1938, New York, United States of America, carbon print, 45.5 x 36 cm; The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection of 20th Century Mexican Art and the Vergel Foundation, © Nickolas Muray Archive</span> </figcaption></figure><p>Frida Kahlo devotees, this is your show. There are her paintings aplenty, photographs of her by Imogen Cunningham through to Edward Weston, and film imagery of Kahlo and Rivera as the happy couple. </p>
<p>But there’s much more to this exhibition at the Art Gallery of South Australia than a Frida Kahlo love-in.</p>
<p>The context for the exhibition, aptly titled Frida & Diego: Love & Revolution, is set in its first gallery. </p>
<p>There, decked out in the colours of the Mexican flag, snippets of historic film footage are on view. They set the scene for Mexico rooted in its colonial Spanish-European past, its <a href="https://edsitement.neh.gov/closer-readings/mexican-revolution-november-20th-1910">1910 revolution</a> and transition to a democracy. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536214/original/file-20230707-20-7rnte4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536214/original/file-20230707-20-7rnte4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536214/original/file-20230707-20-7rnte4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536214/original/file-20230707-20-7rnte4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536214/original/file-20230707-20-7rnte4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536214/original/file-20230707-20-7rnte4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536214/original/file-20230707-20-7rnte4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536214/original/file-20230707-20-7rnte4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Unknown Artist, Frida and Diego with Fulang Chang, 1937, gelatin-silver photograph, 12.7 x 10.16 cm; Throckmorton Fine Art, New York.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The newly formed Republic of Mexico ushered in a <a href="https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/mexican-revolution-and-the-united-states/obregons-vision-for-mexico.html">raft of reforms</a> in the 1920s conducive to cultural growth and valuing its indigenous cultures. </p>
<p>This is the backdrop to a high point in <a href="https://newlinesmag.com/review/how-an-avant-garde-movement-changed-mexican-culture/">Mexican avant-garde art</a> by Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo and a host of other modern artists in this exhibition.</p>
<h2>‘Mexicanidad’</h2>
<p>Each gallery is a dramatic set for paintings, photographs, murals and moving images. </p>
<p>Architects Grieve Gillett have employed wall colour and shape to craft viewing spaces that induce a dramatic engagement with the paintings, such as Rivera’s hyper-real anthropomorphic Landscape with cacti (1931). </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536224/original/file-20230707-25-m5fj35.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536224/original/file-20230707-25-m5fj35.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536224/original/file-20230707-25-m5fj35.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=374&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536224/original/file-20230707-25-m5fj35.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=374&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536224/original/file-20230707-25-m5fj35.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=374&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536224/original/file-20230707-25-m5fj35.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536224/original/file-20230707-25-m5fj35.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536224/original/file-20230707-25-m5fj35.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Installation view: Frida & Diego: Love & Revolution, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide; photo: Saul Steed.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>His paintings compete favourably with Kahlo’s. His scenes of the everyday include Calla Lily vendor (1943), showing two traditionally dressed young girls nursing their gigantic basket of lilies. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536206/original/file-20230707-29-5lb1ie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536206/original/file-20230707-29-5lb1ie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536206/original/file-20230707-29-5lb1ie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=775&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536206/original/file-20230707-29-5lb1ie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=775&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536206/original/file-20230707-29-5lb1ie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=775&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536206/original/file-20230707-29-5lb1ie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=974&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536206/original/file-20230707-29-5lb1ie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=974&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536206/original/file-20230707-29-5lb1ie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=974&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Diego Rivera, born Guanajuanto City, Mexico 1886, died Mexico City 1957, Calla lily vendor, 1943, Mexico City, oil on board, 150.0 x 120.0 cm; The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection of 20th Century Mexican Art and the Vergel Foundation.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It is emblematic of the shift away from academic subject matter to traditional Mexican art and folk culture which creates a new sense of national identity and pride – known as “<a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/story/how-frida-kahlo-fused-her-mexicanness-with-socialism/fgUhyOyRt3urIA?hl=en">Mexicanidad</a>”.</p>
<p>The cultural vibrancy of post-revolution Mexico fostered the production of modern art by artists including Guatemalan/Mexican Carlos Merida. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536210/original/file-20230707-15-ekcl4n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536210/original/file-20230707-15-ekcl4n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536210/original/file-20230707-15-ekcl4n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=782&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536210/original/file-20230707-15-ekcl4n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=782&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536210/original/file-20230707-15-ekcl4n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=782&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536210/original/file-20230707-15-ekcl4n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=983&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536210/original/file-20230707-15-ekcl4n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=983&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536210/original/file-20230707-15-ekcl4n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=983&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Carlos Merida born Guatemala City 2/12/1891 died Mexico City 21/12/1985 Variation on an old theme 1960, Mexico City oil on canvas 89.0 x 65.5 cm Private collection L/FK/1-30.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Merida’s vibrant black and bronze abstract shapes dance across the canvas in Variation on an old theme (1960). </p>
<p>Another is Rufino Tamayo, whose inversion of volume and playful approach to representing depth frame his oversized subject in The Diner (1938). </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536211/original/file-20230707-15-jtwzj7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536211/original/file-20230707-15-jtwzj7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536211/original/file-20230707-15-jtwzj7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536211/original/file-20230707-15-jtwzj7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536211/original/file-20230707-15-jtwzj7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536211/original/file-20230707-15-jtwzj7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536211/original/file-20230707-15-jtwzj7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536211/original/file-20230707-15-jtwzj7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Rufino Tamayo born Oaxaca, Mexico 25/8/1899 died Mexico City 24/6/1991 The diner 1938, New York, New York, United States of America oil on canvas 60.3 x 45.1 cm Private collection L/FK/1-150.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These are just two of a host of fabulous modern artists on view whose work is not sufficiently known outside Mexico: a reminder of how Anglo-American our conception of modern art is.</p>
<h2>Enigmatic self-portraits</h2>
<p>Kahlo was an extraordinary woman. Her enigmatic self-portraits such as Self-portrait with monkeys (1943) have an undeniable ability to draw in the viewer, her introspection transferring itself to her audience. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536207/original/file-20230707-22749-nfzxaq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536207/original/file-20230707-22749-nfzxaq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536207/original/file-20230707-22749-nfzxaq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=796&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536207/original/file-20230707-22749-nfzxaq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=796&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536207/original/file-20230707-22749-nfzxaq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=796&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536207/original/file-20230707-22749-nfzxaq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1000&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536207/original/file-20230707-22749-nfzxaq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1000&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536207/original/file-20230707-22749-nfzxaq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1000&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Frida Kahlo, born Mexico City 1907, died Mexico City 1954, Self-portrait with monkeys, 1943, Coyoacan, Mexico, oil on canvas, 81.5 x 63 cm; The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection of 20th Century Mexican Art and the Vergel Foundation.</span>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-looking-at-frida-kahlos-self-portrait-with-monkeys-61141">Here's looking at Frida Kahlo's Self-portrait with monkeys</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<p>She suffered polio as a child. She then had her sights set on a career in medicine when it was thwarted by a <a href="https://www.history.com/news/frida-kahlo-bus-accident-art">shocking bus accident</a>, followed by long periods of rehabilitation. </p>
<p>As a consequence, she took to art. </p>
<p>This well-known story tends to frame her as an artist, and may well explain why her stunning self-portraits – always of her upper torso – convey a singular strength and determination as in Self-portrait with red and gold dress (1941). </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536208/original/file-20230707-23274-q3pl5y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536208/original/file-20230707-23274-q3pl5y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536208/original/file-20230707-23274-q3pl5y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=892&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536208/original/file-20230707-23274-q3pl5y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=892&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536208/original/file-20230707-23274-q3pl5y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=892&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536208/original/file-20230707-23274-q3pl5y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1121&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536208/original/file-20230707-23274-q3pl5y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1121&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536208/original/file-20230707-23274-q3pl5y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1121&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Frida Kahlo, born Mexico City 1907, died Mexico City 1954, Self-portrait with red and gold dress, 1941, Coyoacan, Mexico, oil on canvas, 39.0 x 27.5 cm; The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection of 20th Century Mexican Art and the Vergel Foundation.</span>
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<p>She presents herself as exotic, wearing the indigenous <a href="https://latinamericanpost.com/33791-tehuana-woman-cultural-icon-of-femininity-and-empowerment-in-mexico">Tehuana</a> dress of her ancestors as both a personal and political statement, while the long skirts disguise her misshapen polio-affected legs. </p>
<p>Her paintings transcend her disability, so while the re-creation of her four-poster bed and bedroom within the exhibition is a homage to her determination, it is unnecessary. </p>
<p>The point about her disability could have been made more gently by the photographs in the space.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536215/original/file-20230707-27-9r7zqx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536215/original/file-20230707-27-9r7zqx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536215/original/file-20230707-27-9r7zqx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=766&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536215/original/file-20230707-27-9r7zqx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=766&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536215/original/file-20230707-27-9r7zqx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=766&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536215/original/file-20230707-27-9r7zqx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=962&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536215/original/file-20230707-27-9r7zqx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=962&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536215/original/file-20230707-27-9r7zqx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=962&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Juan Guzman, born Cologne, Germany 1911, died Mexico City 1982, Frida at ABC Hospital holding a mirror, Mexico, 1950, Mexico City, gelatin-silver photograph, 24.1 x 19.0 cm; Throckmorton Fine Art, New York.</span>
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<h2>Artistic vision</h2>
<p>The exhibition is testament to the vision of two emigres, Jacques Gelman and Natasha Zahalka who settled in Mexico City. </p>
<p>Gelman came from Russia via Germany and France; Zahalka from Czechoslovakia via Singapore. They met and married, and from the 1940s began collecting and commissioning work from this exciting period in Mexican art. </p>
<p>It is their collection on view, supplanted by some photographic loan work. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536209/original/file-20230707-21-yjq5bz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536209/original/file-20230707-21-yjq5bz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536209/original/file-20230707-21-yjq5bz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536209/original/file-20230707-21-yjq5bz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536209/original/file-20230707-21-yjq5bz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536209/original/file-20230707-21-yjq5bz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=576&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536209/original/file-20230707-21-yjq5bz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=576&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536209/original/file-20230707-21-yjq5bz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=576&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Diego Rivera, born Guanajuato City, Mexico 1886, died Mexico City 1957, Portrait of Natasha Gelman, 1943, Mexico City, oil on canvas, 115.0 x 153.0 cm; The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection of 20th Century Mexican Art and the Vergel Foundation.</span>
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<p>The Gelmans come to life in the exhibition: both Kahlo and Rivera completed portraits of Natasha. </p>
<p>But more interesting is Gunther Gerzso’s Portrait of Jacques Gelman (1957). </p>
<p>This shows a diminutive patron embedded in an abstract field of shape and colour, testament to his love of the avant-garde.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536212/original/file-20230707-17-v85al4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536212/original/file-20230707-17-v85al4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536212/original/file-20230707-17-v85al4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=736&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536212/original/file-20230707-17-v85al4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=736&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536212/original/file-20230707-17-v85al4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=736&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536212/original/file-20230707-17-v85al4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=925&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536212/original/file-20230707-17-v85al4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=925&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536212/original/file-20230707-17-v85al4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=925&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Gunther Gerzso born Mexico City 17/6/1915 died Mexico City 21/4/2000 Portrait of Jacques Gelman 1957, Mexico City oil on canvas 72.0 x 60.0 cm The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection of 20th Century Mexican Art and the Vergel Foundation L/FK/1-161.</span>
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<h2>An insightful exhibition</h2>
<p>Between 1923 and 1939, the Mexican government employed artists to <a href="https://arthistoryteachingresources.org/lessons/mexican-muralism/">paint murals</a> to foster a sense of national identity. </p>
<p>Two of Rivera’s murals valorising the working class are photographically reproduced across large wall spans to convey the intensity and power of his imagery.</p>
<p>There is a delightfully intriguing side to this exhibition in Japanese artist Yasumasa Morimura’s video Dialogue with myself (2001). </p>
<p>He is well known for <a href="https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-yasumasa-morimura-places-art-historys-famous-scenes">appropriating the persona</a> of key artists from art history such as Van Gogh, Vermeer and Manet or their signature artworks. </p>
<p>Here, he performs as Kahlo, dressed in her distinctive clothing, while playing the piano and conversing with her. </p>
<p>Perhaps, in these conversations, he is drawing out the inner self Kahlo so perfectly controls in her portraits.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536219/original/file-20230707-19-qs4fov.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536219/original/file-20230707-19-qs4fov.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536219/original/file-20230707-19-qs4fov.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536219/original/file-20230707-19-qs4fov.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536219/original/file-20230707-19-qs4fov.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536219/original/file-20230707-19-qs4fov.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536219/original/file-20230707-19-qs4fov.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536219/original/file-20230707-19-qs4fov.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Installation view: Frida & Diego: Love & Revolution, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide; photo: Saul Steed.</span>
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<p>This is an insightful exhibition, beautifully curated by Tansy Curtin who weaves around the drawcards Kahlo and Rivera to present the breadth of modern Mexican art, situating it in its political and cultural context. </p>
<p>The exhibition catalogue with its fold-out Rivera mural is an indispensable aid. But it is the inspired architectural design complimented by wall-sized imagery of the murals and the artists’ studio and courtyard that lifts the images in the exhibition to another level to make it a wholly immersive viewing experience.</p>
<p><em>Frida & Diego: Love & Revolution is at the Art Gallery of South Australia until September 17.</em></p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-frida-kahlo-became-a-trinket-for-a-conservative-leader-85334">How Frida Kahlo became a trinket for a Conservative leader</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/208022/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Catherine Speck has received funding from the ARC to research exhibitions. </span></em></p>
Frida Kahlo devotees, this new exhibition at the Art Gallery of South Australia is your show.
Catherine Speck, Emerita Professor, Art History and Curatorship, University of Adelaide
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.