Combating feminicidal violence in Mexico: A qualitative study of women’s active subjectivity vis a vis institutional violence

This study focuses on both the institutional violence against women and women’s (facing direct forms of extreme violence) resistance by highlighting their voices and experiences, from a decolonial feminist approach. It examines the tension between oppression and active subjectivity, concluding that women experiencing extreme forms of feminicidal violence, through the resignifications of themselves are active subjects whose actions work towards the denormalization of violence socially and in front of governmental institutions. The data in this study was gathered through semi-structured interviews and participant-generated visuals with women living in women’s shelters, staff in the shelters, and women in neighborhood associations. Furthermore, data were analyzed under thematic analysis and interpretative engagement approaches. By analyzing both faces of the context, violence, and resistance, this study opens the possibility of getting a deeper understanding of institutional violence but also about the possibilities to change the structures and improve women’s lives.