Violence and Social Suffering: women's resistance in Veena Das' works

Abstract

Social suffering has been studied in several circumstances by Brazilian researchers, usually associated with socially excluded people who are victims of violence and chronic poverty. Special attention has been given to its effects on women's and children's bodies. In this work, we deal with the Medical Anthropology concept of social suffering, especially from the works of the Indian anthropologist Veena Das, searching for a dialogue between social suffering, health, and gender questions. Her conceptions about mental imagery and women's daily resistance to hegemonic discourses under violence and social suffering support a new perspective on women's body use and care. We conclude that such modality of women's resistance in Veena Das' view can be useful to conduct studies and social interventions concerning Brazilian women submitted to suffering and inequality. Listening to young and poor Brazilian women speak about the way they can (not) control their destiny and define life projects could offer clues to intervene in health promotion contexts. Under imaginary movements that lead to language use and body care, these practices could bring meaning to social processes that have uncertainty and incompleteness as human marks.