Citizens Against Crime and Violence

TREVOR STACK is a professor at the University of Aberdeen in the United Kingdom, where he serves as the director of the interdisciplinary Centre for Citizenship, Civil Society, and Rule of Law. He is the author of Knowing History in Mexico: An Ethnography of Citizenship, the co-editor of Religion as a Category of Governance and Sovereignty, and co-editor of Breaching the Civil Order: Radicalism and the Civil Sphere.

"In the face of government failure to provide justice and security, how have Mexican citizens – cultural and political activists, women’s collectives, church groups – responded to violence and crime that upend their daily lives? This unique comparative ethnography by a multidisciplinary team of scholars foregrounds the creative, courageous, and arduous work through which people are stitching the torn social fabric of their communities. Empirically and conceptually rich, it is an essential, timely read." - Ieva Jusionyte (author of Threshold: Emergency Responders on the US-Mexico Border) "This book takes an original lens to the crisis of violence, crime and insecurity in Mexico. Through an ethnographic approach, it critically and insightfully accompanies the efforts of social and civic actors in varied locations of MichoacÁn, from urban to more rural, to find a space to act creatively in and on the many violences they have to live with." - Jenny Pearce (author of Politics without Violence? Towards a Post-Weberian Enlightenment) "In the face of government failure to provide justice and security, how have Mexican citizens – cultural and political activists, women’s collectives, church groups – responded to violence and crime that upend their daily lives? This unique comparative ethnography by a multidisciplinary team of scholars foregrounds the creative, courageous, and arduous work through which people are stitching the torn social fabric of their communities. Empirically and conceptually rich, it is an essential, timely read." - Ieva Jusionyte (author of Threshold: Emergency Responders on the US-Mexico Border) "This book takes an original lens to the crisis of violence, crime and insecurity in Mexico. Through an ethnographic approach, it critically and insightfully accompanies the efforts of social and civic actors in varied locations of MichoacÁn, from urban to more rural, to find a space to act creatively in and on the many violences they have to live with." - Jenny Pearce (author of Politics without Violence? Towards a Post-Weberian Enlightenment)

• Chapter 1: Introduction: The Comparative Ethnography of Societal Responses to Crime and Violence in MexicoChapter 2: Local Citizen Security Councils: Sustainable Responses to a Crisis of Trust in State Security ProvisionChapter 3: Cultural Activism: Mobilizing Art and Culture to Build Transformative Socio-Political FieldsChapter 4: Socio-legal Activism in Contexts of Criminal and Institutional Violence: Challenging Forced Disappearances, Gender Violence, and Assaults on LGBT and Sex WorkersChapter 5: Churches as Institutions in Regions of Violent Organized CrimeChapter 6: A Room of Their Own: Barriers to Women’s Activism Against the Continuum of Violence in MichoacÁn, MexicoChapter 7: Key Objectives, Strategic Choices and Impact of Societal Responses to Violence: Lessons for Policy and PracticeChapter 8: Society to the Rescue? Rethinking Responses to Crime-Related Violence and Corruption                                AcknowledgmentsNotes on ContributorsIndex