Gobernanza de los afectos frente a la situación de calle en Ciudad de México, México

This article aims to analyze the validity of the governance of fear, disgust, and contempt in the spatial production of the city, as well as in the political, legal, and scientific discourses on street situations in Mexico City during the 21st century. A qualitative methodological design is employed, based on the proposal of Close Reading (Ahmed, 2015), specifically using documentary review. Three discursive axes are examined: a) scientific production identified in the selected databases on homelessness in Mexico; b) current political-legal discourses on homelessness and parallel phenomena that affect this population; and c) media discourse represented in news headlines published between 2021 and 2023. The analysis focuses on identifying narrative milestones that reveal tacit relationships and meanings surrounding this urban group. The study concludes that, in the case of Mexico City, there are complex relationships, mixtures, and emotional connections that underlie the construction of otherness and inhabit the streets, as reflected in current public discourses. However, hierarchies of contempt prevail towards individuals perceived as “street kids”.