Building emotional-political communities to address gendered violence against women and girls during Covid-19 in the favelas of Maré, Rio de Janeiro

Bibliographic Data

ID4753754
AuthorsCathy Mcilwaine (0000-0001-6528-599X, King's College London, corresponding author), Miriam Krenzinger (Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro), Moniza Rizzini Ansari (0000-0001-9057-7150, King's College London), Noelle Resende (0000-0002-7039-8822, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro), Noelle Coelho Resende (Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro), Julia Gonçalves Leal (0009-0004-6588-7447, Casa das Mulheres, Redes da Maré, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), Fernanda Vieira (0000-0002-0147-4377, Casa das Mulheres, Redes da Maré, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
Year2023
Volume24
Issue3-4
Pages563-581
Publication date2023-03-16
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSocial & Cultural Geography (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1464-9365 • E-ISSN: 1470-1197
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/14649365.2022.2065697
OpenAlexW4224271623
LanguageEN
Citations received10
References cited37

Although the intensification of direct and indirect gendered violence against women during the COVID-19 pandemic has been extensively reported globally, there is limited research on women's responses to it. Addressing calls to explore the relationships between emotional-affective atmospheres and politics during the pandemic as well as to centre analyses of gendered violence within geography, this paper explores how women in the favelas of Maré, in Rio de Janeiro have developed mutual support, (self)-care and activism in the face of the crisis. Engaging with nascent debates on responses to COVID-19, together with feminist geographical work on resistance to gendered violence, the article adapts the notion of 'emotional communities' developed by Colombian anthropologist, Myriam Jimeno, to examine how emotional bonds created among survivors of violence are reconfigured into political action. Drawing on qualitative research with 32 women residents and 9 community actors involved in two core community initiatives in Maré, the paper develops the idea of building reactive and transformative 'emotional-political communities' at individual and collective levels to mitigate gendered violence and wider intersectional structural violence. Emotional-political community building is premised on grassroots activism among women and organisations that develops as part of compassionate (self)-care and the quiet rather than spectacular politics of change

Criminology · Domestic violence · Grassroots · Intersectionality · Poison control · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Structural violence · Suicide prevention · Transformative learning · Gender Studies · Gender, Security, and Conflict · Intimate Partner and Family Violence · Sex work and related issues

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