NewsPronto

 
Men's Weekly

.

USA Conversation

The Conversation USA

The Conversation USA

‘Only death can protect us’: How the folk saint La Santa Muerte reflects violence in Mexico

  • Written by Myriam Lamrani, Associate Researcher, Department of Anthropology, Harvard University
imageA devotee carrying his daughter rests his hand on the glass to an altar to La Santa Muerte in Tepito in Mexico City. AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell

When a life-size skeleton dressed like the Grim Reaper first appeared on a street altar in Tepito, Mexico City, in 2001, many passersby instinctively crossed themselves. The figure was La Santa Muerte...

Read more: ‘Only death can protect us’: How the folk saint La Santa Muerte reflects violence in Mexico

More Articles ...

  1. What is DNS? A computer engineer explains this foundational piece of the web – and why it’s the internet’s Achilles’ heel
  2. Symbolism of cemetery plants: How flowers, trees and other botanical motifs honor those buried beneath
  3. Wildlife recovery means more than just survival of a species
  4. It’s always been hard to make it as an artist in America – and it’s becoming only harder
  5. Back pain during pregnancy is often dismissed as a passing discomfort − a nurse explains why it should be taken seriously and treated
  6. 25 Years of the International Space Station: What archaeology tells us about living and working in space
  7. Health headlines can be confusing - these 3 questions can help you evaluate them
  8. People abused by intimate partners have worse asthma – but researchers are still untangling the reasons behind this surprising link
  9. The Jew in King Shaka’s court: How a 19th-century castaway shaped a Zulu leader’s legacy
  10. Trump’s ability to counter Netanyahu’s spoiler tactics in public may have been key to advancing a ceasefire in Gaza
  11. US squeeze on Venezuela won’t bring about rapid collapse of Maduro – in fact, it might boomerang on Washington
  12. 4 urgent lessons for Jamaica from Puerto Rico’s troubled hurricane recovery – and how the Jamaican diaspora could help after Melissa
  13. Voters lose when maps get redrawn before every election instead of once a decade − a trend started in Texas, moving to California and likely spreading across the country
  14. ‘Night of the Living Dead’ helped me process the Tree of Life massacre and other real-world horrors
  15. Beware the Anglo-Saxons! Why Russia likes to invoke a medieval tribe when talking about the West
  16. ‘My gender is like an empty lot’ − the people who reject man, woman and any other gender label
  17. Atorvastatin recall may affect hundreds of thousands of patients – and reflects FDA’s troubles inspecting medicines manufactured overseas
  18. What both sides of America’s polarized divide share: Deep anxieties about the meaning of life and existence itself
  19. Where does human thinking end and AI begin? An AI authorship protocol aims to show the difference
  20. Signature size and narcissism − a psychologist explains a long-ago discovery that helped establish the link
  21. With more Moon missions on the horizon, avoiding crowding and collisions will be a growing challenge
  22. Water bears survive cosmic radiation with one DNA-protecting protein – learning how could boost human resilience, too
  23. How autism rates are rising – and why that could lead to more inclusive communities
  24. Polarizing political events are leading Americans to increasingly call for a national divorce
  25. Nuclear-powered missiles: An aerospace engineer explains how they work – and what Russia’s claimed test means for global strategic stability
  26. Why are 4.7 million Floridians insured through ACA marketplace plans, and what happens if they lose their subsidies?
  27. Rediscovery of African American burial grounds provides long-overdue opportunities for collective healing
  28. Trump’s anti-Venezuela actions lack strategy, justifiable targets and legal authorization
  29. SNAP benefit freeze will leave millions nationwide struggling to pay for food – including 472,711 people in Philadelphia
  30. US leaders view China as a ‘pacing threat’ − has Washington enough stamina to last the race?
  31. Hurricane Melissa turned sharply to devastate Jamaica − how forecasters knew where it was headed
  32. Washington state settles controversy over child abuse law that tested the limits of ‘priest-penitent’ privilege
  33. How Hershey’s chocolate survived an attack from Mars − and adopted a business strategy alien to its founder
  34. CDC’s ability to prevent injuries like drowning, traumatic brain injury and falls is severely compromised by Trump cuts
  35. Agricultural drones are taking off globally, saving farmers time and money
  36. More than 40 years after police killed Eleanor Bumpurs in her Bronx apartment, people still #sayhername
  37. Fed struggles to assess state of US economy as government shutdown shuts off key data
  38. Fed lowers interest rates as it struggles to assess state of US economy without key government data
  39. Why you can salvage moldy cheese but never spoiled meat − a toxicologist advises on what to watch out for
  40. Future of nation’s energy grid hurt by Trump’s funding cuts
  41. Solar storms have influenced our history – an environmental historian explains how they could also threaten our future
  42. The Glozel affair: A sensational archaeological hoax made science front-page news in 1920s France
  43. AI reveals which predators chewed ancient humans’ bones – challenging ideas on which ‘Homo’ species was the first tool-using hunter
  44. How the Philadelphia Art Museum is reinventing itself for the Instagram age
  45. AI chatbots are becoming everyday tools for mundane tasks, use data shows
  46. Children learn to read with books that are just right for them – but that might not be the best approach
  47. Why the Trump administration’s comparison of antifa to violent terrorist groups doesn’t track
  48. Xi-Trump summit: Trade, Taiwan and Russia still top agenda for China and US presidents – 6 years after last meeting
  49. How the explosion of prop betting threatens the integrity of pro sports
  50. The Trump administration’s anti-immigrant housing policy reflects a long history of xenophobia in public housing