Family Violence during the Porfiriato in Mexico City (1897–1900)

Abstract

This article analyses representations of family violence in Mexico City during the Porfiriato through the crime reporting of El Imparcial (1897–1900). It examines how these accounts functioned as instruments of moralisation by condemning behaviours that ran counter to the civilising project. Through a qualitative analysis of eight cases, the article demonstrates that the press normalised male violence by portraying it either as an outburst of passion or as a legitimate exercise of domestic authority, while criminalising female autonomy and transgressions of motherhood through the figure of the “unnatural mother”. It concludes that these narratives reveal the tensions between the modernising ideal and the realities of family life among the popular classes.