Abstract

DIAZ CRUZ, Arturo. Bureaucrats in contexts of insecurity: fear and (un)protection from the state. Alteridades [online]. 2022, vol.32, n.63, pp.39-49.  Epub Sep 19, 2022. ISSN 2448-850X.  https://doi.org/10.24275/uam/izt/dcsh/alteridades/2022v32n63/diaz.

This article examines the strategies employed by civil protection bureaucrats in Mexico City as they perform their quotidian activities in a context of marked insecurity. Drawing on fieldwork carried out between 2016 and 2017, the ethnography analyzes how these state officials forge personal ties and participate in an economy of favors with local residents as mechanisms of protection. By following these strategies, the bureaucrats not only seek to minimize their exposure in a situation of generalized violence, but also attempt to reverse forms of unprotection. These forms of unprotection arise as a result of their official positions caused by the historically conflictive relation between local residents and the state. The article contributes to the anthropological debates regarding street level bureaucracy, as well as aiming to expose how the interactions between officials and citizens shape concrete experiences of insecurity.

Keywords : violence; ethnography; economies of favors; civil protection.