Embroidering femicide: mobilizing care as protest in the movement for women's lives in Mexico
Topics: Feminist Geographies
, Latin America
, Political Geography
Keywords: femicide, feminicidio, Mexico, feminist activism, scalar politics, care, state sponsored violence
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Friday
Session Start / End Time: 2/25/2022 09:40 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/25/2022 11:00 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 57
Authors:
Vivian Deidre Rodríguez Rocha, Penn State University
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Abstract
Bordamos Feminicidios [We embroider femicide] is a collective dedicated to the embroidery of memorial handkerchiefs which narrate known events surrounding the murder of femicide victims in Mexico. In an effort to register the impunity surrounding femicide cases, the collective’s mission is to produce one handkerchief for each known femicide victim in the country, a monumental endeavor considering that over 50,000 women have been killed or disappeared in Mexico since the late 1980s (SEGOB 2017). Feminist scholars and political geographers have explored the reach of similar activist interventions that mobilize grief as an instrument for protest and seek to establish the grievability of victims of misogynist and state sponsored violence through public mourning (M. Wright 2017b; M. W. Wright 2005; M. Wright 2017a; Pratt 2005; Berlanga Gayón 2018; Taylor 1997). Drawing from their research in conjunction with emerging literature on the geographies of care, I position the work of Bordamos Feminicidios—their public embroidery interventions as well as the resulting handkerchiefs—as an expression of what I call care activism—activism that relies on care and caring practices as a means for public protest. Through a serious engagement with the scalar politics of embroidering femicide stories in public, this paper explores how Bordamos Feminicidios captures the fluidity of scale in the production of a single handkerchief, articulating a critique of impunity that—through a public performance of care—simultaneously interpellates intimate, domestic, national, and international audiences.
Embroidering femicide: mobilizing care as protest in the movement for women's lives in Mexico
Category
Virtual Paper Abstract
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