All Outputs (10)

Camera-fitted drones may help locate graves of Mexico’s disappeared (2024)
Digital Artefact

This blog explores the FOUND project in Jalisco, Mexico, which successfully tested the use of drones equipped with cameras to locate simulated clandestine graves. It highlights the experiences and lessons learned by families involved in the search ef... Read More about Camera-fitted drones may help locate graves of Mexico’s disappeared.

Self-reflexivity on researching difficult topics: Lessons learned from interviewing former members of organised crime in Mexico (2023)
Journal Article

Increasing attention has been paid to the emotional effects that conducting research on difficult topics can have on researchers, yet, the literature documenting successful strategies, and more crucially, the lessons learned from researchers working... Read More about Self-reflexivity on researching difficult topics: Lessons learned from interviewing former members of organised crime in Mexico.

The ‘real man’ in the global war on drugs: Narco versus militarised masculinities (2022)
Journal Article

Drawing on a discursive analysis of the life stories of thirty-three men who worked in drug trade organisations in Mexico, this article examines how masculinities are constructed in their narratives, and how these constructions mirror militarised mas... Read More about The ‘real man’ in the global war on drugs: Narco versus militarised masculinities.

Targeted support is needed to protect the wellbeing of researchers working with emotionally challenging material (2022)
Report

This project, funded by the ESRC IAA, focused on the lived experiences of PhD and early career researchers who are routinely exposed to emotionally challenging material. It investigated existing wellbeing resources and piloted counsellor-led trai... Read More about Targeted support is needed to protect the wellbeing of researchers working with emotionally challenging material.

Cuatro dimensiones de la violencia del narcotráfico en México: ¿cómo las conciben los perpetradores? (2022)
Journal Article

This paper examines the narratives of thirty-three former drug traffickers and analyses how they portray drug trafficking violence. Using a discourse analysis approach, this study reveals four different meanings attached to this violenc... Read More about Cuatro dimensiones de la violencia del narcotráfico en México: ¿cómo las conciben los perpetradores?.

A thin line divides victims and perpetrators in the war on drugs in Mexico (2022)
Digital Artefact

Fifteen years ago, Mexico declared war on drugs. However, the country must still reflect on the factors that lead drug traffickers to engage in violence, and reconsider their strategy to break this long cycle of abuse, argues Karina García Reyes.

Morir es un Alivio (2021)
Book

Dying is a Relief is a new book by Dr. Karina García Reyes based on interviews conducted with men who previously worked in various roles for criminal groups in Mexico (original title in Spanish: Morir es un Alivio, Planeta, 2021).

Debunking the Narco myth (2020)
Digital Artefact

Who is a narco? The details may vary, but our mental image is usually very similar. We picture a young man, working class, non-white, poorly educated, festooned in a cowboy hat or other flamboyant outfit. In this, the entertainment industry has done... Read More about Debunking the Narco myth.

Inside Mexico’s war on drugs: Conversations with ‘el narco’ (2020)
Digital Artefact

I am from northern Mexico, one of the regions most affected by the global war on drugs.

From 2008 to 2012 my hometown – which I’m not naming here for safety reasons – went through one of the most violent times in its history. Shootings between car... Read More about Inside Mexico’s war on drugs: Conversations with ‘el narco’.

Violence within: Understanding the use of violent practices among Mexican drug traffickers (2019)
Preprint / Working Paper

This paper provides first-hand data regarding the perpetrators’ perspectives about their engagement in practices of drug trafficking-related violence in Mexico such as murder, kidnapping, and torture. Drawing on the life stories of thirty-three form... Read More about Violence within: Understanding the use of violent practices among Mexican drug traffickers.