Youth Transitions and the Politics of Risk: Schooling amid Drug-related Violence in Mexico City.

Recent scholarship in Mexico has examined the intersection between the War on Drugs, drug-related violence, and schooling, revealing significant impacts on the educational experiences of young people. My study deepens this focus to the peripheries of Mexico City, where the expansion of the drug market and marginalization shape neighborhoods' everyday life. Situated in a community school that serves primarily working-class families, this study analyzes how teachers and school administrators perceive the risks of student drug use and distribution, as well as the strategies the school enacts to respond. Findings show that educators tend to view young people as an 'at-risk' population due to the neighborhood's context. Yet, when students engage in drug use or distribution, educators reframe them as 'a risk' to others. This transition mobilizes school protocols and resources to surveil and monitor students involved in such activities. These practices coexist with incipient prevention and harm-reduction initiatives that seek to destigmatize youth substance use. By discussing the implications of risk labels and student surveillance, this study shows why youth and teachers' experiences must inform the design of context-sensitive harm-reduction strategies. My work contributes to broader drug policy and drug education debates by foregrounding the role of schools in advancing justice-oriented frameworks for urban youth affected by drug-related violence.