Preface: Provoking Ten Burros and a Genius

Abstract

In May 1994 I returned to Colonia Santo Domingo, in Mexico City, and quickly found myself part of a raucous street scene. Loud and disorderly streets are nothing new for residents of the neighborhood; indeed, public debates have been common here ever since thousands of paracaidista (parachutist) land squatters first invaded these volcanic rocks on the south side of the Mexican capital in September 1971. Still, this time there was something new to the excitement: rather than voicing concerns relating to the construction and protection of their particular colonia, residents were expressing anxiety about Mexico’s political outlook in general and how elections might fit into this future. And they were arguing about these issues as if their words, actions, and opinions actually might make a difference in national political outcomes. This kind of engagement with official politics and this kind of enthusiasm for electoral politics, albeit a wary enthusiasm, is not normal in the colonias populares of Mexico City. I had been gone from Mexico City for several months, and now Gabriel, Marcos, Felipe, and Toño were bringing me up to date in their running argument with one another. As we shared various caguamas of Corona beer, Toño was once again expressing his staunch support for the government PRI party. “They’re the only ones with the infraestructura to run the country. Things would quickly deteriorate, everything would be un desmadre [a total mess] if another party won,” he chided the others.1 Marcos, although an active member of a janitors’ union and a sup-