Paper short abstract:

This paper challenges different types and aspects of “fear” and “danger” in the dynamic milieux of various northern Mexican border towns and discusses how citizens and local artists –as human seismographs– react to recent trends.

Paper long abstract:

Due to its exuberant murder rate, Ciudad Juárez has received the questionable award as being the "world's most dangerous city" several times. Media and respective governments may be seen as considerable protagonists in the distribution of this "glorious chapter" of the city's history. Thanks to the on-going conflict among drug cartels and the army, the former have celebrated various field days in recent times. But how do locals live with and within this supposed site of danger?

Another example is Tijuana -"Tijuana la horrible"-, the prototypical "sin city" with notorious neighbourhoods such as "la Coahuila", where the arts scene is flourishing and happily addressing angst, unrest, and fear. In its works, Nortec Collective, an ensemble of border artists, is combining topics such as insecurity and sorrows, but also rapture and rampancy with stereotypes, myths, legends, and reality.

However, on the border between Mexico and the US one may also find sections which are referred to as the "white border". Are cities like Ciudad Acuña, Piedras Negras and San Luis Río Colorado, which show a relatively low crime rate, oases of peace, of which the compatriots in Nuevo Laredo, Reynosa and Matamoros only can dream of?

And: What is danger? What is fear? Has disquiet always to do with bloodshed and weapons? Identity issues contribute as well, at times, to a growing uncertainty amongst fronterizos on both sides of the border.