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24 reviews for:
Drug Cartels Do Not Exist: Narcotrafficking in US and Mexican Culture
Oswaldo Zavala
3.74 AVERAGE
24 reviews for:
Drug Cartels Do Not Exist: Narcotrafficking in US and Mexican Culture
Oswaldo Zavala
3.74 AVERAGE
This book spent a little too much time focusing on narco culture in popular media. However, the last three sections (juarez, the epilogue, and the english afterword) hit very hard. The continuous thread throughout the whole book being that the cartels aren’t these transnational organizations but actually a veil for the mexican state to gain access to natural resources in the regions where the narcos operate is a wild claim that I think the book does a fairly decent job of presenting with valid sources.
A book I’ll have to read again and use as supplemental material when reading more on this topic.
A book I’ll have to read again and use as supplemental material when reading more on this topic.
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
medium-paced
This was good but not what I was expecting. More cultural theory and constructivism than I like to read. I was hoping for more materialist analysis. I didn’t need to be persuaded of any of the key points including that constructing essentialised, romantic imagery of narcoviolence obscures the political and material causes of it.
I wanted to learn more about the underlying imperial and geopolitical methods in Mexico which the book does mention but not in the detail I had hoped.
I liked the argument that the war on drugs has been very successful as an imperialist project though.
I wanted to learn more about the underlying imperial and geopolitical methods in Mexico which the book does mention but not in the detail I had hoped.
I liked the argument that the war on drugs has been very successful as an imperialist project though.
challenging
informative
reflective
challenging
informative
medium-paced
extremely readable and a very interesting perspective on drug trafficking. feels depressingly fitting to finish this on inauguration day lol. i really liked his cultural analysis of mexican/narco literature as an avenue to discuss the political economy behind drug trafficking.
informative
sad
slow-paced
Disclaimer: My score is driven more by my personal feelings for and enjoyment of reading it than how objectively true or valuable I feel it is.
The book is interesting and informative but I can't help feel it should be two separate books. The analysis of the way novels (and other media) represent the drug war is interesting but really fails to cohesively contribute what I thought was meant to be the overall narrative and thesis in regards to the state's representation of the conflict. I understand media plays a role in perpetuating that narrative but I don't feel the book did a great job of knitting that together and using it as a convincing piece of evidence *for* the cartel narrative being a myth.
At some level it seems this was meant to take that thesis of the cartels as a given and focus solely on the analysis of literary representation in that lens. That is, an inversion of what I expected to find within. My cynical side wonders if the "thesis" aspect was stitched on at the end to make the book more appealing to a mass market who lack that prerequisite understanding. If that is the case then I think the framing of the introduction, conclusion, and summary could be refined.
The book is interesting and informative but I can't help feel it should be two separate books. The analysis of the way novels (and other media) represent the drug war is interesting but really fails to cohesively contribute what I thought was meant to be the overall narrative and thesis in regards to the state's representation of the conflict. I understand media plays a role in perpetuating that narrative but I don't feel the book did a great job of knitting that together and using it as a convincing piece of evidence *for* the cartel narrative being a myth.
At some level it seems this was meant to take that thesis of the cartels as a given and focus solely on the analysis of literary representation in that lens. That is, an inversion of what I expected to find within. My cynical side wonders if the "thesis" aspect was stitched on at the end to make the book more appealing to a mass market who lack that prerequisite understanding. If that is the case then I think the framing of the introduction, conclusion, and summary could be refined.
informative
slow-paced
informative
slow-paced