Putting the Body Into Justice

Bibliographic Data

ID2290994
AuthorsClaire Branigan (0009-0002-8700-7477, Rice University Houston Texas USA)
Year2025
Volume48
Issue1
Publication date2025-05-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePoLAR Political and Legal Anthropology Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1081-6976 • E-ISSN: 1555-2934
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/plar.70007
OpenAlexW4409402946
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited15

Stories and images of the burned, mutilated, raped, and beaten female body have played and continue to play a central role in the antifemicide movement in Argentina. Feminist die-ins and artistic performances that emphasized the physical and sexual violence perpetrated against women were central to the birth of the Ni Una Menos movement. But the harm done to the bodies of the living victims-the siblings, children, and parents of feminicide victims-often remains less visible, hidden behind the headlines of women's corpses. This article explores what happens to the bodies and embodied well-being of the family members of victims of femicides and how their bodies respond to the physical violence and death that they witnessed and survived. It analyzes the ways in which they use their bodies to imagine, perform, and enforce justice for their loved ones and themselves. Taken together, this article argues that injustice can be located within the human body, as it is often made manifest through physical and emotional suffering, which can be deadly. Because injustice takes root in the human body, the work of "doing justice" is therefore done through embodied acts

American Constitutional Law and Politics · Historical and Contemporary Political Dynamics · Race, History, and American Society

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