Urban Marginality, Neighborhood Dynamics, and the Illicit Drug Trade in Mexico City

• In Event: Labelling and Interactionalist Perspectives

Abstract

This presentation explores independent street-level drug dealers in the socially and economically marginalized neighborhood of Tepito in Mexico City. Research presented here is based on ongoing ethnographic work, and in-depth biographical interviews with drug dealers involved strictly in marijuana sales (17), those offering multiple illicit substances (39), and community members (8) in a neighborhood historically known for sales of contraband. We find that dealing is an adaptive strategy to resist criminal organizations encroaching on the drug market, and efforts by developers at gentrification; both of which would displace the residents from the neighborhood. Our results highlight the pivotal role of the illicit economy in marginalized communities and argues for a more nuanced interpretation of survival strategies among the urban underclass. More work is needed that approaches criminal activity as resistance among the economically dislocated.

Authors

• Piotr Chomczyński, University of Lodz

• Roger Stephen Guy, State University of New York at Oswego