The margins of disappearance: Analysis of the Mexican context

Abstract

The search for missing persons, within the context of the war on drugs, takes on a different character when  conducted in a city versus a small municipality, distant from the main political-economic centers. One might think there is no need to compare such contrasting realities, but the experiences of searching mothers living in municipalities  far from urban areas indicate otherwise. This is expressed in the testimonies of my interlocutors who reside in Norte Grande –a fictitious name I use to refer to the area where I conduct ethnographic work. One of the main findings of this research is how the searchers vocalize a feeling of abandonment, largely stemming from the minimal presence of bureaucratic search infrastructure in their territories. In this regard, the concept of margin is essential for analyzing the impacts of the war in places we know as
periphery or province.