Arquitecturas de disciplinamiento en Tristes sombras de Lola Ancira

Abstract

In this paper, I analyze the short stories «Furor impius» and «De qué eres memoria», published in the collection Tristes sombras by Mexican writer Lola Ancira. To do so, I draw on foundational methodological texts for the analysis of biopolitics by Michel Foucault. I also rely on interpretations of Foucault in the Mexican context, particularly those by philosopher María Inés García Canal. I argue that Ancira’s representation of the spaces of La Castañeda and Lecumberri adopts a critical stance toward the construction of Mexican modernity and addresses specific issues such as internal migration, the unequal distribution of labor and the disciplining of bodies, especially women’s bodies. I conclude by examining Ancira’s position of enunciation in a moment marked by the reactivation of necropolitical control over bodies, exercised not only by the State but also by various parallel centers of power, such as drug trafficking networks.