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The Force of Witness

Contra Feminicide

Rosa-Linda Fregoso author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Duke University Press

Published:24th Mar '23

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The Force of Witness cover

In The Force of Witness Rosa-Linda Fregoso examines the contra feminicide movement in Mexico and other feminist efforts to eradicate gender violence. Drawing on interviews, art, documentaries, and her years of activism, Fregoso traces the micro and macro scales of misogyny and the patterns of state complicity with gender violence. She shows how different forms of witnessing—from activist-mothers’ bearing witness to the memories of their daughters and expert witnesses in court cases to communal witnessing and a scholar-activist-citizen witnessing her own actions—are key to resisting feminicidal violence. Fregoso situates these forms of witness in the histories, contexts, structures, bodies, and intersectional struggles they emerge from. By outlining the complexities of feminicidal violence in relation to witnessing processes, Fregoso challenges the notion of witness as an individual or autonomous subject inscribed solely in the legal or religious arenas. Rather, she theorizes witness as a force of collectivity and a constellation of multiple social locations and intersectional practices that work together to abolish feminicidal violence.

"Fregoso masterfully and poignantly combines theory, scholarship, and activism in this volume, thereby bearing witness and accompanying others in their struggles for justice. Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty; professionals." -- I. Coronado * Choice *
"The Force of Witness is a deeply personal testimony that makes a significant contribution in the exploration of bearing witness in regard to the very painful topic of gender-based violence, emphasizing its relational dimension and political value. . . . Fregoso’s approach and call to witnessing gendered violence, resonating with our interconnectedness as human beings, make this book a compelling testament that restores dignity to the countless feminized victims and disappeared while denouncing the brutal killing machine of the Mexican state." -- Myriam Lamrani * Journal of Anthropological Research *
"Fregoso . . . is investigative and analytical, urgent and reflective; it is also a deeply personal narrative. She compels us to read and—vicariously—witness unspeakable pain and fear, including her own terrifying experience of the sanitised term ‘intimate partner violence’. She reveals institutionalised misogyny, and police indifference to – if not complicity in – male violence against women."
  -- Deborah Eade * Gender & Development *
"Moving from the root causes to the remedies, the book is unique in the sense that it analyzes the strengths and shortfalls of various feminist movements in combatting and addressing feminicides. The book illustrates how the remedies for gender-based violence are informed by how the causes are defined. . . . By taking a decolonial feminism perspective, the book offers a full picture of how the legacy of a necropolitical order dictates, on the one hand, the poor national policies that address and seek to end impunity for feminicides and, on the other hand, the unfit international response."
  -- Jelena Pia-Comella * Human Rights Review *
"Centering the role of different forms of witnessing through film, art, performance, journalism, and conventional forms of protest, The Force of Witness offers a powerful lens on the ways that feminicide shatters lives and communities and inspires action." -- Lynn Stephen * Latin American Research Review *
"Fregoso invites us to develop a radical form of solidarity by witnessing and becoming present. The Force of Witness encompasses not only a clear explanation of the framework that helps her expand on the concept of feminicide, but also a critical overview of patriarchal and colonial systems that silence women, feminine, and feminized bodies while upholding the structures that profit from this violence." -- Francisco G. Tijerina Martinez * NACLA *

ISBN: 9781478017103

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: 499g

248 pages