Corporeal Dimensions of Gender Violence

Ladina’s Self and Body in Eastern Guatemala

Bibliographic Data

ID12967601
AuthorsCecilia Menjívar (0000-0002-7061-509X, Arizona State University, corresponding author)
Year2009
Volume2
Issue1
Pages12-26
Publication date2009-01-27
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueStudies in Social Justice (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1911-4788 • E-ISSN: 1911-4788
PublisherBrock University Library (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.26522/ssj.v2i1.965
OpenAlexW1925752877
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited14

Based on 30 in-depth interviews with Ladina women and field work conducted in a rural town in eastern Guatemala, I examine the physical expressions that violence can take on the women's bodies, such as common physical ailments that result from emotional distress as well as sicknesses that are caused directly by the conditions in which they live. A central theme in the discussion is the embodiment of violence as it is expressed in the control of the women's body in the social milieu, such as the control of their socializing and visiting. I use a sociologically- and anthropologically-informed lens to situate corporeal questions within structures of social inequalities and human suffering and, thus, this examination contributes to debates about the relationship between body and society, macro and micro processes in the social world, as well as explorations between the women's lives and their rights. As such, this examination permits to unveil embedded structures of violence that assault the women's dignity and provoke suffering, as well as those instances in which gender solidarity is created. This examination allows us to explore implications for gender-based social justice

Criminology · Dignity · Political science · Sociology · Solidarity · Feminism, Gender, and Intersectionality · Gender Studies · Gender, Security, and Conflict · Law · Psychology · Sex work and related issues · Social Psychology

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