{"product_id":"when-i-wear-my-alligator-boots-narco-culture-in-the-us-mexico-borderlands-volume-33-9780520276789","title":"When I Wear My Alligator Boots: Narco-Culture in the U.S. Mexico Borderlands Volume 33","description":"\u003ch2\u003eWhen I Wear My Alligator Boots: Narco-Culture in the U.S. Mexico Borderlands\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eWhen I Wear My Alligator Boots\u003c\/i\u003e examines how the lives of dispossessed men and women are affected by the rise of narcotrafficking along the U.S.-Mexico border. In particular, the book explores a crucial tension at the heart of the \"war on drugs\" despite the violence and suffering brought on by drug cartels, for the rural poor in Mexico's north, narcotrafficking offers one of the few paths to upward mobility and is a powerful source of cultural meanings and local prestige.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eEthnographic Research on Border Drug Trade\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn the borderlands, traces of the drug trade are everywhere: from gang violence in cities to drug addiction in rural villages, from the vibrant folklore popularized in the narco-corridos of Norteña music to the icon of Jesús Malverde, the \"patron saint\" of narcos, tucked beneath the shirts of local people. In \u003ci\u003eWhen I Wear My Alligator Boots\u003c\/i\u003e, the author explores the everyday reality of the drug trade by living alongside its low-level workers, who live at the edges of the violence generated by the militarization of the war on drugs.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eFocus on Low-Level Narcotrafficking Workers\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eRather than telling the story of the powerful cartel leaders, the book focuses on the women who occasionally make their sandwiches, the low-level businessmen who launder their money, the addicts who consume their products, the mules who carry their money and drugs across borders, and the men and women who serve out prison sentences when their bosses' operations go awry.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eAcademic Analysis of Border Communities\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis volume in the California Public Anthropology series provides critical insight into U.S.-Mexico relations, border culture, and the social realities of rural poverty in northern Mexico. The ethnographic approach offers readers an intimate understanding of how narco-culture shapes identity, economic opportunity, and community dynamics in borderland regions.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eShaylih Muehlmann is Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Canada Research Chair in Language, Culture and the Environment at the University of British Columbia.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"University of California Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50680636801298,"sku":"9780520276789","price":32.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_acb74d5e-a204-496c-bc71-e78a4d85af80.jpg?v=1734923549","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/when-i-wear-my-alligator-boots-narco-culture-in-the-us-mexico-borderlands-volume-33-9780520276789","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}