Call the Mothers: Searching for Mexico’s Disappeared in the War on Drugs Volume 58

A gripping portrait of the relentless women taking missing persons, kidnapping, and extortion cases into their own hands--and building a movement for one another.

In this riveting exploration of the lives of mothers whose children are among the 100,000 disappeared in Mexico’s war on drugs, Shaylih Muehlmann shows how families have mobilized on the ground to get answers and justice. It is often mothers who confront government corruption, indifference, and incompetence by taking on the responsibilities of searching for missing persons and dealing with kidnapping and extortion cases.

In bringing the voices of these women to the fore, Muehlmann demonstrates how the war on drugs affects everyday life in Mexico and how these activists have become detectives, forensic specialists, and even negotiators with drug traffickers. Call the Mothers provides a unique look at a grassroots movement that draws from the symbolic power of motherhood to build a network of collectives that redefine traditional gender roles and challenge injustice and impunity.

Shaylih Muehlmann is Professor of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia. She is the author of Where the River Ends: Contested Indigeneity in the Mexican Colorado Delta and When I Wear My Alligator Boots: Narco-Culture in the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands.