More than 100,000 people have gone missing in Mexico since the late 1960s—who are they, and why have they gone missing? We talked to two Radcliffe fellows who have devoted their work to telling this history, from an institutional as well as a personal level, as a way to honor the disappeared and empower their families.
This episode contains intense subject matter that may be distressing to some listeners.
Released on December 12, 2024.
Episode Transcript
Guests
Rosalva Aída Hernández Castillo, a professor and senior researcher at the Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social, is an anthropologist whose work promotes indigenous and women’s rights in Latin America. She is working on an ethnographic account of family collectives searching for their disappeared loved ones throughout Mexico. She was the 2023–2024 Perrin Moorhead Grayson and Bruns Grayson Fellow at Harvard Radcliffe Institute.
Oscar Lopez is is a writer and freelance journalist who covers human rights, politics, and violence. His book in progress examines disappearances in Mexico—and how they became both state policy and organized crime practice. He was the 2023–2024 Shutzer Fellow at Harvard Radcliffe Institute.
Related Content
Fellowship Biography: Rosalva Aída Hernández Castillo
Fellowship Biography: Oscar Lopez
Fellowship Talk: Digging for Hope in Mexico: A Feminist Ethnography in the Land of Mass Graves
Fellowship Talk: And Then They Vanished: A Hidden History of Mexico’s Disappeared
Podcast: Wounds across Borders
Reporting by Oscar Lopez in the New York Times
Credits
Ivelisse Estrada is your cohost and the editorial manager at Harvard Radcliffe Institute (HRI), where she edits Radcliffe Magazine.
Kevin Grady is the multimedia producer at HRI.
Alan Catello Grazioso is the executive producer of BornCurious and the senior multimedia manager at HRI.
Sean Hennessy is a freelance sound engineer and recordist.
Sky Jung is a multimedia intern at HRI and a Harvard College student.
Heather Min is your cohost and the senior manager of digital strategy at HRI.
Emerson Prond is a multimedia intern at HRI and a Harvard College student.
Anna Soong is the production assistant at HRI.
Special thanks to Cabin 3 Media for their invaluable contributions to the editing of this podcast episode.

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