I write these pages from my experience as inhabitant of southern Mexico City and as an anthropologist through my own observations.

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Megalopolis and disasters

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In 1804 Alexander Von Humboldt referred to the valley of Mexico City as "the region of the most transparent air", idea that post-revolutionary artists used for their master pieces. In the mid-20th century Carlos Fuentes, the Mexican writer, paraphrased the explorer's sentence as a literary motif for one of his best-known novels. That description can still be verified on the days when the wind removes pollution and is when transparency reveals other aspects that the city residents, accustomed to the movement of the city, overlook.

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Due to its great complexity, it would be practically impossible to describe what is now Mexico City and Metropolitan Area. Around 22 million inhabitants live in the fifth largest city in world and it has a population density of 22,000 inhabitants per square kilometer. Since its origins in Prehispanic times it has been characterized as a transit point, confluence and commerce; first, due to its ethnic and linguistic diversity composition, and later, due to religious, socio-political differences and economic inequalities. Also, it is a place of attraction and reception for immigrants from all over the world,  violence and presence of organized crime, as well as the city of free gender diversity expression and a large commercial, educational and cultural offer.[1] It has also distinguished itself because several of its socioeconomic sectors have been depoliticized in the name of achieving a life full of individual benefits. In the recent history of Mexico City residents have experienced large-scale political movements that made possible the election of a democratic government, and several demonstrations to denounce violence against women and protest movements ask for improvement economic conditions. Likewise, they experienced other types of shakings: the 1985 and 2017 earthquakes. During these tragic episodes in which hundreds of thousands of Mexicans dead, it was confirmed once again that catastrophes are generated when there is a condition of vulnerability, so as specialists have pointed out: disasters are not natural.

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On these occasions the city inhabitants acted in solidarity with those affected and it is known that the governments were overwhelmed by their negligence to act accordingly. Solidarity had expressions never seen before, and the capacity for cooperation and social organization far exceeded expectations: there was no lack of food, clothing or shelter. Once the contingency was over, urban life returned to its dynamics and society repositioned itself in its site: again, emphasizing inequality, mutual distrust, corruption and individualism. 

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With regard to the H1N1 epidemic in 2009, the actions of the population about disease were disbelief, particularly because they lived under the mandate of Felipe Calderón, the president who was discredited for having committed electoral fraud. Although some sectors of the population complied with the provisions of the health care authorities, others assumed immunity from what was happening in other latitudes and continued to carry out their daily activities. Part of that prolonged disinterest we are experiencing now.

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However, in 2020 the inertia of incredulity in sectors of Mexican society to the Global Health Emergency call declared by the Federal Government concerns to other aspects. The Federal Government and the Mexico City’s Local Government have created a public campaign for the population to stay lockdown #QUEDATEENCASA. In addition to diurnal press conference by president Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the Ministry of Health offers a daily talk on coronavirus disease by epidemiologists and provide data from the World Health Organization. Dozens of recommendations on hygiene and nutrition for public health are made before the imminent arrival of phase 3 (the strongest disease spread). The demand is “going out only if it is necessary”. So, how do the inhabitants of Mexico City react to this emergency?

 

There is a COVID19 for everyone

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Although for several weeks the Federal Government has implemented a plan to confront the health emergency, the pandemic coincided with the Holy Week celebration, one of the most important religious commemorations in the country and that millions of believers live with great fervor. The Vía crucis performance has been held in Iztapalapa since the late 19th century and has been considered as Mexico City’s Immaterial Cultural Heritage. Due to the health contingency, local authorities allowed the performance but without spectators only with the actors who, during a year, have been prepared to play their role because they are not professional but locals. In other parts of the country catholic congregations took the streets to celebrate Holy Sunday in disobedience of the suggestions of the Catholic Church itself, which joined to the pronouncement to stay home and experiment in new ways the religious celebration. For several days, markets, supermarkets and tianguis (street markets) have been willing to sell their products, and buyers have been crowding the streets and shops ignoring the health emergency. It is because Mexico City cannot stop moving. It is true that the middle and upper socioeconomic sectors are worried. But the rest of the population does not; it is a society that lives the city on the street; the People needs to go out to get some money.[2] Also, it is a city whose inhabitants everyday move for food. There is no lack of food but rather on supply, although some merchants store products to speculate the prices to increase them later.

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Beyond the economic activity by which people say they have to go to their jobs or to buy food, there is a perception that infection is possible only in the downtown area or in its concentric neighborhood, in the public transport and in hospitals, but not in the suburb neighborhoods, some of them are traditional places and were prehispanic settlements. These neighborhoods represent a prothesis of the domestic place whereby people feel safe once they return from their jobs to their homes. One can go out to eat street food as well as buy supplies in small stores. Interactive communication processes do not stop. The line to buy “tortillas” is long and the authorities’ indication of “avoid social contact" is not respected; people talk with neighbors and vendors as usually; family visits continue normally, and on Sunday the music and dance are often heard from gatherings in some homes or on the street. For example, owners of stands of a street market in the Tlalpan (in the southern Mexico City) engaged an entertainer to invite people to come out of their houses and buy: "Bring the family to try the delicious dishes" -he says.

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For ordinary people whose children are not attending classes due to the pandemic life seems to be spent in a vacation setting. Several people assure that there will be no way to avoid the infection if they are predestined to it, in such a way that it is a waste of time to worry or take shelter in their houses and stop consuming the foods that are offered. And it is precisely with situations like these that we have empirical data to approach the understanding of societies based on what they eat. In other words, food in its broadest sense constitutes one of the most important regulators that give meaning to the different areas of social life. It is crossed by culture, so not all of us eat the same and therefore we do not conceive of the world in a similar way.

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It is ironic to say that there is a COVID19 for everyone. For the middle and upper socioeconomic sectors and for the enlightened groups of Mexico City this period represents an opportunity to reflect, to enjoy time with their families and to cook for everyone. Some intellectuals write and comment on the need to reconnect with the planet, and they recourse to the warning cliché that says: if we continue to destroy nature, humanity will perish. For the university sector, the situation is worrying because, in addition, due to several student mobilizations and reactionary groups protest, a few faculties of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México have declared stopping activities. No one understands the causes or consequences of that conflict and with the arrival of COVID19 there is a risk that the university will be closed for a longer time and affect the academic life. For others, the lockdown is a time when the collective fear of scarcity is expressed by the panic purchases that have taken place in the city's supermarkets; these groups have sufficient economic resources to store food. But others do not.[3]

 

Future contributions of Anthropology to public policies

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During the pandemic’s spread creativity has found a favorable period to blossom, artists and academics are contributing with their skills and knowledge. The Ministry of Culture has called singers, poets and musicians to invite people through their social networks staying at home. The jokes spread to make everyone laugh. Hundreds of them are socialized and playing with COVID19, for example, if an earthquake hits the city, people should be evacuated together or one by one keeping at least three feet apart conserving social distance; or if it would be well seen that in the upcoming New Year holidays someone sings the song: "I do not forget the old year". Likewise, there are bakeries that produce artisanal pastries with a coronavirus figure with green sugar decorations. The reason for these behaviors probably is the same for why we have the indigenous festivity of dead on November: it is a time for feast, for exchanging of gifts and dishes between humans, humans and divinities, and humans and dead ancestors.

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During the quarantine in Mexico City one observes these behaviors, as well as other interesting comportments, i.e. the approach to the sound sphere of daily life in the neighborhoods where it turns out that music is a sign of protection: people are in their home listening music. These aspects are not curious data, but they express culture and power relationships between different urban socioeconomic groups.

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In these regards, governments should consider other aspects for the design food and health policies in relation with all spheres of urban social life. In particular, contemplating the role of culture is crucial, culture understood as a social network of meanings. The construction of spaces in suburban areas are related to the food and the social networks. In other words, the polices should consider the traditional ways of inhabiting the neighborhoods with various cultural practices, as urban heterogeneity microcosms. Anthropologist could help to understand and explain the urban life in specific sectors of Mexico City, the ways in which the social networks and reciprocity that help to sustain the social universe, and the traditional ways of obtaining food or producing food, either for domestic consumption or for sale and purchase. For the People as long as there are maize (Zea mays) and frijol (Phaseolus vulgaris) that can be used to prepare many types of dishes, there will be always something to eat. This is one aspect that highlights the role of culture, and refers to relations, differences and similarities between rural and urban areas, and the presence of the rural ways of life in the city.

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Likewise, for example, it would be relevant to register the inhabitants behavior in crisis situations and their subsequent resilience for which medium-term policies should be designed that promote solidarity as a possible way to reduce violence and social barriers to inequality and social resentment between different sectors because there are people who think that COVID19 infects only the wealthy People. It is a great opportunity to build a harmonic social framework or, at least, more affable. Also, for governments, the idea of the future is anchored only in children. But the future is seen as a time to which adults have no right to access. Despite the fact that it has been considered that Mexican families are a support for the social network, the truth is that in many homes the older people are considered a hindrance despite the moral gerontocracy that existed in the last decades of the 20th century. Everyone knows that the modernity creates new social actors, so the composition of families has been modified and for some whose parents are employees, the grandparents are the ones who take care of the children and this is also related to the current role played by women. How does this aspect affect the social perception of COVID19 pandemic?

Finally, a cartography of food landscapes, food production, street food, and consumption patterns in relation to other variables such as public transport systems, migrant routes, would be of great importance for the design urban territorial ordering.

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Notes

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1. As a host country for migrants, Mexico received refugees from Spain and South America, immigrants from Germany, Russia, Lebanon, too. Mexico today is not only the forced pathway for migrants from Central and South America way, but also a strong producer of migrants to a lesser extent, but it is also a receiving country for migrants.

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2. 60% of the Mexicans live in poverty. In contrast, Mexico is a land of a large biocultural diversity.

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3. Mexico is a country of deep inequality, a country of contrasts. At the same time, it has a multiethnic (68 indigenous linguistic families) and pluricultural composition.