In the Vortex of Violence: Lynching, Extralegal Justice, and the State in Post-Revolutionary Mexico (VIRTUAL)

Lecture by Gema Kloppe-Santamaria
Department of History, Loyola University, Chicago
Former Kellogg Institute Visiting Fellow

In this lecture, Kloppe-Santamaría introduces her new book, In the Vortex of Violence: Lynching, Extralegal Justice, and the State in Post-Revolutionary Mexico (University of California Press, 2020), which examines the uncharted history of lynching in post-revolutionary Mexico. Based on an array of previously untapped historical sources, she examines the reasons behind the persistency of this practice during a period otherwise characterized by greater political stability and lower levels of violence. By bringing to the fore the role that state formation, religion, perceptions of crime, and mythical beliefs had in people’s understanding of lynching as justice, Kloppe-Santamaría offers key insights into the cultural, political, and historical reasons behind the ongoing legitimacy of this practice in Mexico and several other Latin American countries.

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