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This qualitative study examines the constructions of the so-called authentic Mexico, mexicanidad, in Australia. The limited contact between Australia and Mexico means that this phenomenon is still in its infancy, and as such, there is a gap in the literature. The aim of this article is to begin to fill this by examining the presence of mexicanidad in urban Australia, and the impact of this on young, urban Australians' imaginings of Mexico. This study, conducted among Australian university students, examines how imaginings of Mexico, both positive and negative, are constructed by young Australians. The interviewees (re)produced a stylized pastiche of Mexico. Made in urban Australia, this imaginary comprises Frida-Kahlo-themed restaurants, Day-of-the-Dead exotica, and a fascination with the drug cartels. There are few Mexicans in Australia who might contest the misty-eyed Disneyfication of their cultures, and thus, mexicanidad in Australia operates as a vacant conceptual category into which cool yearnings can be inscribed. This article theorizes the construction of the social imaginary of Mexico in Australia, proposing that there is a presence in Australia of a pastiche version of mexicanidad, made up of both positive and negative imaginings. In the absence of a significant local expatriate population, Australian constructions of Mexico draw upon discourses of an exoticized, postcolonial Other. These imaginings operate as a largely empty conceptual box that serves as a holding space for Australians' myriad desires, expectations and interpretations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The period from mid-twentieth century until the present in Latin America and the Caribbean has represented a historical stage which has unleashed great social and economic transformations, though with several missteps. One of these missteps has been the strengthening of drug trafficking as a structure for economic and social integration of marginal sectors and as a structure of social and moral value. In this article, I will analyze the structure of drug trafficking, defined by Rossana Reguillo as a "narcomáquina" (narcomachine), and how it affects the definition of space. Space is considered here as an imaginary and real instance defined by the mediation of elements of the political, economic, historical, and social systems. The space analyzed is the Tepito neighborhood, a community in Mexico City that has historically been configured by the state as a "problematic space." This article studies Tepito and how it is portrayed in the Netflix series Ingobernable (2017), a political drama starring the Mexican actress Kate del Castillo that revolves around the figure of the first lady of Mexico and the nation immersed in the middle of the war on drugs and other political conflicts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]