Abstract

GUERRA MANZO, Enrique. The Problem of Violence in the District of Coalcomán, Michoacán (ca. 1940-1980). Secuencia [online]. 2018, n.101, pp.200-231. ISSN 2395-8464.  https://doi.org/10.18234/secuencia.v0i101.1399.

This article analyzes several types of violence that devastated the District of Coalcomán, Michoacán, ca. 1940-1980, as a result of agrarian issues, various forms of delinquency, the planting of drugs (instrumental violence), pistolerismo (hiring thugs to deal with syndicalists) and vendettas (ritual violence). It is argued that, although the state strove to eliminate all of them, it found it hardest to combat pistolerismo and vendettas. This was so because ritual violence is more deeply rooted in people’s habitus and required not only disarming the population (the measure that was most often chosen) but also a vigorous campaign to reformulate the habitus and civilize passions, a task that a state with acute infrastructural weaknesses was unable to assume. In order to describe the above, the article relies primarily on first-hand sources, and a limited conceptualization of violence, which distinguishes between instrumental and ritual violence.

Keywords : violence; delinquency; district of Coalcomán; Michoacán; Mexican state.

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