Secreted Knowledge: The Social Production of Opacity and Secrecy

Abstract

In December 2019, months before the COVID-19 pandemic was declared, a fire devastated the La Merced market in Mexico City. As a result of that catastrophic event, whose consequences persist to this day, this article proposes the existence of a mode of social knowledge, secreted knowledge, to explore the collective production of opacity and secrecy. The article is divided into four sections. In the first, I briefly introduce the reader to the notion of secreted knowledge that will be developed throughout the article and ask about its relationship with knowledge based on objective criteria and on evaluation through distance. In the second, we enter the La Merced market to understand its characteristics and dynamics. In the third, we observe the forms of manifestation and production of secreted knowledge: the “vibras”, the “veintes” and the ones linked to rumors, witchcraft and dreams. Finally, we consider why this secret knowledge would be a realistic knowledge although it would be a dark realism.