Abstract

MONCRIEFF ZABALETA, Henry. Chakas, borders and youth in a criminalized neighborhood of Mexico City. Iztapalapa. Rev. cienc. soc. humanid. [online]. 2023, vol.44, n.95, pp.67-97.  Epub Sep 11, 2023. ISSN 2007-9176.  https://doi.org/10.28928/ri/952023/atc3/moncrieffzabaletah.

This article responds to an ethnographic analysis of the different ways in which young men from a criminalized neighborhood find “their place” in a moral geography where their streets, ways of living, and bodies are valued and ranked. This interpretation thus distances itself from those romanticized readings of ‘the neighborhood’ and highlights how divisions, stereotypes and social fears are being imposed in the youth sociabilities of the local space. This results in the construction of the chaka, a ghost that corresponds to the public narrative about ‘poor youth’ and ‘otherness’ always suspicious of violence and all social malaise in the community. This field research covers two years (2018-2020) in the company of young people who live in a popular neighborhood in the east of Mexico City.

Keywords : youth; popular neighborhoods; territorial stigma; urban borders; moral geography; otherness.

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