Digging for hope : a feminist ethnography in the land of mass graves / R. Aída Hernández Castillo.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hernández Castillo, Rosalva Aída, Author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Disappeared persons--Mexico.

Disappeared persons.

Disappeared persons' families--Mexico.

Disappeared persons' families.

Victims of state-sponsored terrorism--Mexico.

Victims of state-sponsored terrorism.

Mexico--Social conditions.

Mexico.

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Place of Publication:

Tucson : University of Arizona Press, 2026.

Summary:

"In the shadow of Mexico’s ongoing human rights crisis, Digging for Hope offers a powerful feminist ethnography of resistance, care, and collective memory. Drawing on nearly a decade of fieldwork, R. Aída Hernández Castillo documents the courageous work of women-led search collectives who, in the face of extreme violence, search for their disappeared loved ones. Through physical and spiritual practices such as exhumation, mourning, and poetic remembrance, these women reclaim dignity for the dead and challenge a society that has normalized disappearance. At the heart of this book is a profound exploration of what Hernández Castillo calls a “pedagogy of love”—a political and ethical framework rooted in care, solidarity, and the refusal to forget. These women are not only searching for bodies; they are building emotional communities, crafting new languages of justice, and offering a reimagining of what it means to resist violence. Their practices, often overlooked by traditional scholarship, restore humanity and dignify the disappeared. Digging for Hope is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the gendered dimensions of violence and the grassroots movements that rise in response. With clarity and compassion, Hernández Castillo brings readers into the intimate spaces of grief and resistance, offering a model for feminist ethnography that is both rigorous and deeply humane."--From JSTOR.

Contents:

Las rastreadoras: searching in occupied territory

Regresando a casa Morelos: politics of care for the deceased

Memory healers: self‑representation, resistance, and sorography

Denouncing the genocide of the poor: massacres as forms of disappearance of migrants

By searching, we find ourselves!: community‑building through solidarity

The strength of spirituality in the searchers’ journey

Final reflections.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Online resource; title from PDF title page (JSTOR, viewed May 29, 2026).

Other Format:

Print version: Hernández Castillo, Rosalva Aída. Digging for hope.

ISBN:

9780816556502

0816556504

OCLC:

1581704327

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license