Latin America Bureau and King’s College London are proud to announce the debut work from the WRV collective, 'Women Resisting Violence: Voices and Experiences from Latin America.' To celebrate, we'll be launching the book with an event in London on the evening of 28 November.

There will be wine, drinks, nibbles, installations, copies of the book, and feminist artworks from Lilophilia, who designed the cover art for the Women Resisting Violence book and podcast.

Some of the authors will present the book and discuss, alongside collaborators and a panel of influential voices from organisations such as the Latin American Women's Rights Service, Saferworld, and NiUnaMenos UK, women's widespread creative responses to gender-based violence.

Speakers include Elizabeth Jimenéz Yañez (LAWRS), Susana Klien (Saferworld, LAWA) and Matina Rodrgíuez (FALA, NiUnaMenos).

About the book

Across Latin America, the number of femicides has grown at an alarming rate, exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic. Alongside has come a dramatic increase in domestic violence; loud demands over domestic workers’ rights; increased suffering from and fierce resistance to land-grabbing; increased urban violence; violent discrimination against migrants; and the relentless growth of state control over women’s reproductive rights.

In Women Resisting Violence, case studies and interviews with women leaders from Latin America highlight the multiple and intersecting forms of gendered violence – where race, ethnicity, skin colour, economic status, and other markers combine to identify, discriminate against, and target women. Collecting a chain of voices, we focus on these women’s inspirational strategies for transforming their communities and influencing international laws. Their testimonies underline the importance of culture, commemoration, and the arts in consolidating and amplifying active resistance.

Women’s voices are loud and clear: gendered and intersectional violence is rampant in Latin America. But women are pushing back. As the Mexican proverb boldly states, ‘They wanted to bury us, but they didn’t know we were seeds.’

The authors

Cathy McIlwaine (Vice Dean Research, SSPP and Professor of Geography, King's College London), Marilyn Thomson (LAB), Jelke Boesten (Associate Dean (Doctoral Studies) SSPP and Professor in Gender and Development, King's College London), Patricia Muñoz Cabrera, Louise Morris, Andrea Espinoza, Moniza Rizzini Ansari.