Los Caballeros Templarios de Michoacán: Imagery, Symbolism, and Narratives
The 279 page edited work Los Caballeros Templarios de Michoacán: Imagery, Symbolism, and Narratives is divided into a preface, introduction, twelve chapters, postscript, imagery data set, four appendices, selected references, and further readings. This Small Wars Journal-El Centro eBook is edited by Robert J. Bunker and Alma Keshavarz with contributions from Steven Metz, Pamela Ligouri Bunker, John P. Sullivan, Ioan Grillo, Patrick Corcoran, Robert Keene, R. Andrew Chesnut, Tony M. Kail, Kate Kingsbury, Marc W.D. Tyrrell, Charles Cameron, and Graham H. Turbiville, Jr.
The Templarios cartel is an understudied group and it is hoped that this effort has shed some light on their spiritual-criminal activities and the threat this signified to both the Mexican state and its broader society. This cross-disciplinary work represents a unique fusion of organized crime and insurgency (criminal & spiritual) focused scholarship blended with contributors with religious (and magico-religious) studies expertise. The experts contributing to it collectively recognize and challenge exclusive narco secular status quo perceptions, finding that not all cartel activity taking place is simply secular in nature and devoid of any underlying spiritual motivations.
