Women's Resistance in Violent Settings: Infrapolitical Strategies in Brazil and Colombia

Citation:

Veillette, Anne-Marie, and Priscyll Anctil Avoine. 2020. "Women’s Resistance in Violent Settings: Infrapolitical Strategies in Brazil and Colombia." In Re-writing Women as Victims: From Theory to Practice, edited by María José Gámez Fuentes, Sonia Núñez Puente, and Emma Gómez Nicolau, 53-67. New York: Routledge. 

Authors: Anne-Marie Veillete, Priscyll Anctil Avoine

Abstract:

The reflections compiled in this chapter emerge from two fieldwork investigations conducted in Brazil (2016) and Colombia (2015) (Anctil Avoine, 2017; Veillette, 2018). The first one, carried out in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, aims at understanding and analysing the nature and the impacts of police violence, as well as resistances emerging in this context, based on women’s testimonies. The second one has been implemented in collaboration with the Colombian Agency for Reintegration and pursued the objective of analysing the narratives of female ex-combatants in order to propose new strategies for gender perspectives in reintegration. In both cases, women are confronted with high levels of violence, oppression and forms of marginalisation: however, they challenge the traditional view of women as victims in these contexts as they develop their own strategies for survival and political action.

Topics: Combatants, Female Combatants, Gender, Women, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Livelihoods, Post-Conflict, Violence Regions: Americas, South America Countries: Brazil, Colombia

Year: 2020