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Intoxicated Identities: Alcohol's Power in Mexican History and Culture.

Article Excerpt
Intoxicated Identities: Alcohol's Power in Mexican History and Culture, by Tim Mitchell (New York & London: Routledge, 2004), 211 pp., $22.95.

Intoxicated Identities is an interesting and important book, but also an exasperating one. It is primarily a study of the cultural meanings and locations of intoxication in Mexico, historically and now. But it also includes much material on the history and organization of alcohol production in Mexico, and on the role of alcohol and intoxication in domination and exploitation, at every level from colonial governance to intimate relationships.

The main thread running through the book is a focus on intoxication events and their meanings in a Mexican context. With the current availability of estimates of alcohol's role in the global burden of disease and injury, it can be seen that alcohol accounts for a greater proportion of the burden in the more developed parts of Latin America (including Mexico) than anywhere else in the developing world (Rehm & Monteiro, in press). If this suggests a need for concern, the corollary is an obvious need to understand intoxication in Mexico. The survey data collected by Maria Elena Medina Mora and her colleagues at the...