Bodies in Crisis
Culture, Violence, and Women's Resistance in Neoliberal Argentina
Rutgers University Press
Born and raised in Argentina and still maintaining significant ties to the area, Barbara Sutton examines the complex, and often hidden, bodily worlds of diverse women in that country during a period of profound social upheaval. Based primarily on women's experiential narratives and set against the backdrop of a severe economic crisis and intensified social movement activism post-2001, Bodies in Crisis illuminates how multiple forms of injustice converge in and are contested through women's bodies. Sutton reveals the bodily scars of neoliberal globalization; women's negotiation of cultural norms of femininity and beauty; experiences with clandestine, illegal, and unsafe abortions; exposure to and resistance against interpersonal and structural violence; and the role of bodies as tools and vehicles of political action.
Through the lens of women's body consciousness in a Global South country, and drawing on multifaceted stories and a politically embedded approach, Bodies in Crisis suggests that social policy, economic systems, cultural ideologies, and political resistance are ultimately fleshly matters.
Through the lens of women's body consciousness in a Global South country, and drawing on multifaceted stories and a politically embedded approach, Bodies in Crisis suggests that social policy, economic systems, cultural ideologies, and political resistance are ultimately fleshly matters.
Bodies in Crisis is one of the few books that deals with the bodily dimensions of exclusion and resistance in Latin America. Bravo to Sutton for this highly original work.
A masterful study on embodiment and modes of feminity in 21st century Argentina. It is accessible enough to be used with upper-level undergraduates even as it is detailed and complex enough to be essential for specialists in Argentina, a difficult balance which Sutton nonetheless achieves flawlessly.
Barbara Sutton provides a unique account of the social and political conjuncture in her country at the beginning of the twenty-first century that is both a brilliant attempt to theorize women's lives and struggles by bringing thhe body clearly 'back' into the picture, and a rendering of a concrete story of oppression and resistance in which women come to life as embodied subjects of history. Her well-written text brings her informants' stories richly to life.
I rarely say this about academic books but I had a hard time putting this one down! Sutton has authored an exciting and engaging contribution to the literature on women and social movements.
BARBARA SUTTON is an assistant professor of women's studies at the University at Albany, SUNY, affiliated with the departments of sociology and Latin American, Caribbean, and U.S. Latino Studies. She is the coeditor of Security Disarmed: Critical Perspectives on Gender, Race, and Militarization (Rutgers University Press).
Acknowledgments
1. Bodies in Crisis: An Introduction
2. Bodies Scars of Neoliberal Globalization
3. Beautiful Bodies: Femininity, Appearance, and Embodiment
4. More Than Reproductive Uteruses: Maternal Bodies and Abortion
5. Embattled Bodies: Violence against Women
6. Bodies in Protest: Poner el Cuerpo
7. Conclusion: Embodiment, Globcalities, and Resistance
Notes
References
Index
1. Bodies in Crisis: An Introduction
2. Bodies Scars of Neoliberal Globalization
3. Beautiful Bodies: Femininity, Appearance, and Embodiment
4. More Than Reproductive Uteruses: Maternal Bodies and Abortion
5. Embattled Bodies: Violence against Women
6. Bodies in Protest: Poner el Cuerpo
7. Conclusion: Embodiment, Globcalities, and Resistance
Notes
References
Index
Related Titles
Demanding Justice and Security
Indigenous Women and Legal Pluralities in Latin America
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Demanding Justice and Security
Indigenous Women and Legal Pluralities in Latin America
Edited by Rachel Sieder
