Creative Dissent: A Multidisciplinary Study of the Activist Art of Mexican Women in the Context of Gender Violence on the U.S.-Mexico Border

Abstract

In response to the recent gender violence along the U.S. ? Mexico Border, the women of the surrounding communities have campaigned for an end to the violence. Over the course of the last decade, these protests have developed into a strong feminist movement that has spread throughout Mexico. Without a prominent voice in the legal or political systems, women have attempted to draw attention to dire social conditions in various alternative ways. One of the most visible is though art work. Artists have been instrumental as activists in groups that unite women for social reform. I will travel to Mexico and study the extent to which art has created awareness and changed attitudes about women?s rights using social psychological theory. In order to evaluate these traits of social consciousness, I will conduct interviews with a diverse sample of women using an identity consciousness model for assessment. The groups that I will meet include artists, activists, and female family members of women who have been murdered during the wave of gender violence in Ju?rez. These groups offer a comprehensive sample of women committed to beginning a healing process from violence against women. My research will reveal to what extent activist art leads to the development of social identity as a woman, which may in turn inspire activism.