Tears, Trauma and Suicide: Everyday Violence Among Street Youth in Puebla, Mexico

Despite considerable ethnographic research with young people in street situations & a growing interest in violence, little attention has been paid to suicide. The occurrence of suicide is a dramatic event that reveals weaknesses in support systems established by governments & civil society organisations, as well as perceived failings of friends. While an interest in suicide usually considers cause, in this paper the authors explore effect. How does the death of a member of a tightly-knit group of street youth affect others & what does the suicide tell us about their identification with death more generally? Research was part of an in-depth study of identities among street youth in Mexico. (38 refs.)