Staying Sober in Mexico City / / Stanley Brandes.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter University of Texas Press eBook-Package Backlist 2000-2013
• VerfasserIn: Brandes, Stanley,
• Place / Publishing House: Austin : : University of Texas Press, , [2021]; ©2002
• Year of Publication: 2021
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (259 p.)

Staying sober is a daily struggle for many men living in Mexico City, one of the world's largest, grittiest urban centers. In this engaging study, Stanley Brandes focuses on a common therapeutic response to alcoholism, Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.), which boasts an enormous following throughout Mexico and much of Latin America. Over several years, Brandes observed and participated in an all-men's chapter of A.A. located in a working class district of Mexico City. Employing richly textured ethnography, he analyzes the group's social dynamics, therapeutic effectiveness, and ritual and spiritual life. Brandes demonstrates how recovering alcoholics in Mexico redefine gender roles in order to preserve masculine identity. He also explains how an organization rooted historically in evangelical Protestantism has been able to flourish in Roman Catholic Latin America.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- 1. Moral Support in Mexico City -- 2. Religious Adaptations in Alcoholics Anonymous -- 3. Meeting and Moving -- 4. Storytelling -- 5. Gender and the Construction of Manhood -- 6. Blurred Boundaries and the Exercise of Social Control -- 7. Illness and Recovery -- 8. Sobriety and Survival -- Appendix A. The Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous/ Los Doce Pasos de Alcohólicos Anónimos -- Appendix B. The Twelve Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous/ Las Doce Tradiciones de Alcohólicos Anónimos -- Notes -- References Cited -- Index