The Force of Witness calls upon readers to bear witness to feminicide that has plagued border communities in Mexico. The atrocities that especially target Indigenous and poor populations are only being exacerbated by the Mexican state’s complacency and active participation in the modern culture of violence. Rosa-Linda Fregoso seeks to challenge previous feminist and human rights conceptions that are steeped in colonialist thought, and focuses our gaze on the visual aspects of demonstrations and art that engage viewers beyond the experience of normalizing violence.
The prelude acts as an introduction to the theoretical framework that contextualizes witnesses within the context of necropolitics. Fregoso uses the concept of witness as an imposition of responsibility, drawing on thinkers such as Jacques Derrida, Judith Butler, Lata Mani, and Cristina Rivera Garza to construct a pluralist approach that emphasizes human interconnectedness and empathy in our understandings of justice. Thus, witnessing feminicide must be integrated...
University of California Press