Professor Pablo Piccato Takes a Closer Look at Mexico

When Pablo Piccato was a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Texas at Austin, a professor suggested he look at crime and public health in Mexico City in the early 20th century for his dissertation. Piccato's dissertation was the basis of his first book, City of Suspects: Crime in Mexico City, 1900-1931 , later followed by The Tyranny of Opinion: Honor in the Construction of the Mexican Public Sphere . His third book will focus on "the cultural and political constructions of crime" in 20th-century Mexico. As drug cartels become increasingly dominant—and violent—in Mexico, his area of expertise has yet to fall out of vogue. "I had hoped that this theme of crime would go away," he said. Pablo Piccato, director of the Institute of Latin American Studies and a history professor, researches crime and society in Mexico. Piccato directs Columbia's Institute of Latin American Studies as well as the Master of Arts program in Latin American and Caribbean studies. This year the institute celebrates its 50th anniversary, which he plans to mark with a panel discussion about Frank Tannenbaum, a prominent historian and criminologist who taught Latin American history at Columbia for 30 years and founded University Seminars, and other events on the relevance of Latin American studies today. Piccato noted with satisfaction that the institute brings together students and faculty from across Columbia in many different disciplines. "It's been great to create real connections between the institute and the rest of the University," he said. Q. How did you, an Argentinian, end up studying Mexico?