The Cultural Other: Migrants, Refugees and the Gender Violence Victim

Abstract

Resulting from a doctoral research which addresses the (co)production of refuge and refugees in different instances of governmentality, this article reflects on the practices of managing emotions in the activities of a project to raise awareness about gender violence, aimed at migrant and refugee women living in the city of São Paulo. Based on ethnography carried out in different Iocus of the project, I discuss how emotions performed a work of approximation or distancing from victim category, operating in processes of differentiation and production of borders. I address the solutions presented to the beneficiaries and the negotiation of positions related to notions of victimization, vulnerability, culture and tradition.

Keywords: victimization; refugees; gender violence; borders; emotions