Ladrones de Luz
Policing Electricity in Mexico City, 1901-1918
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2836247 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Diana J Montaño (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 101 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 35-72 |
| Publication date | 2021-02-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Hispanic American Historical Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0018-2168 • E-ISSN: 1527-1900 |
| Publisher | Duke University Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1215/00182168-8796462 |
| OpenAlex | W3133122403 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 32 |
This essay explores Mexico City's electrification in the early twentieth century through the lens of power theft. The arrest and resulting trial of dozens of capitalinos (Mexico City residents) suspected of power theft allow us to document the nuances of policing and prosecuting a modern crime and thus to explore how notions of policing, private property, space, honor, and even decency influenced how people secured and used electricity. Using 63 cases tried before the Tribunal Superior de Justicia del Distrito Federal (Federal District Higher Court) and newspaper and legal debate on power theft, this article examines how capitalinos could flip seamlessly between the elitist, scripted, proper use of electricity and the ad-libbed, improper use that fit their needs in specific circumstances. By grounding electrification in everyday life, this article argues that capitalinos emerge as agents of technological change, people who understood the importance of electricity to transform their lives and spaces
Electricity · Electrification · Newspaper · Political science · Power (physics) · Sociology · Tribunal · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Crime, Deviance, and Social Control · Engineering · Geographies of human-animal interactions · Law
Rituals of Rule, Rituals of Resistance
Shaping technology/building society
Citizens as Users of Technology
Beyond Imported Magic
Everyday Technology
Non-Users Also Matter
Consuming technologies
Historia del desasosiego
City of Suspects
Consuming Technologies
Technology and the Search for Progress in Modern Mexico
Technology and the Search for Progress in Modern Mexico
Constructing a Narrative
Tools of Progress
And That It Is Custom Makes It Law
And That It Is Custom Makes It Law”
The State and the Electric-Power Industry in Mexico, 1895–1965
Monuments of Progress
Industry and Underdevelopment
Criminal and Citizen in Modern Mexico
Workers, Neighbors, and Citizens
Industry and Underdevelopment
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,5 |
| Citation span | 2024 - 2024 (1) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |