El narcobanquete: Gastropolítica, violencia y pedagogía del poder en Fiesta en la madriguera de Juan Pablo Villalobos

Abstract: This article explores how Fiesta en la madriguera (2010) by Juan Pablo Villalobos constructs a narco-banquet that serves as a de-foundational device in which culinary rituals articulate a gastro-politics that subverts traditional national fictions. Through the childlike gaze of Tochtli, the novel reveals how the narco-state reconfigures Mexican gastronomic practices—such as pozole, herbal infusions, and political banquets—and transforms them into technologies of domination, exclusion, and the pedagogy of power. Combining tools from food studies with contributions from narco-literary criticism and theories of power, the article argues that Villalobos dismantles the foundational fictions studied by Doris Sommer to expose how the narco-state does not simply threaten the nation, but rather de-founds it through the capture and perversion of its most basic cultural rituals.

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Publication Details

Journal
NaKaN A Journal of Cultural Studies
Published
2026-06-17
DOI
https://doi.org/10.67187/nakan-journal.7.5
Primary Topic
Latin American Literature Studies
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
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article

El narcobanquete: Gastropolítica, violencia y pedagogía del poder en Fiesta en la madriguera de Juan Pablo Villalobos

Mónica E. Lugo-Vélez
NaKaN A Journal of Cultural Studies
Latin American Literature Studies
article

El narcobanquete: Gastropolítica, violencia y pedagogía del poder en Fiesta en la madriguera de Juan Pablo Villalobos

Mónica E. Lugo-Vélez
article en

Abstract

Abstract: This article explores how Fiesta en la madriguera (2010) by Juan Pablo Villalobos constructs a narco-banquet that serves as a de-foundational device in which culinary rituals articulate a gastro-politics that subverts traditional national fictions. Through the childlike gaze of Tochtli, the novel reveals how the narco-state reconfigures Mexican gastronomic practices—such as pozole, herbal infusions, and political banquets—and transforms them into technologies of domination, exclusion, and the pedagogy of power. Combining tools from food studies with contributions from narco-literary criticism and theories of power, the article argues that Villalobos dismantles the foundational fictions studied by Doris Sommer to expose how the narco-state does not simply threaten the nation, but rather de-founds it through the capture and perversion of its most basic cultural rituals.

NaKaN A Journal of Cultural Studies(7)
North Carolina State University (US)
Reduced inequalities
Openalex Percentile: Top 3%
Latin American Literature Studies
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