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Anna Kingsley Phd Thesis FRAMING THE BODY: THE JUÁREZ FEMINICIDES IN CONTEMPORARY MEXICAN VISUAL CULTURE (1993 – 2013) Anna Kingsley A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirement of the School of Modern Languages, Literatures & Cultures at Royal Holloway, University of London DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Hispanic Studies School of Modern Languages, Literatures & Cultures, Royal Holloway, University of London December 2017 1 DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP I, Anna Kingsley, hereby declare that this thesis and the work presented in it is entirely my own. Where I have consulted the work of others, this is always clearly stated. Signed: __________________ Date: ____________________ 2 ABSTRACT This doctoral thesis presents a critical examination of selected visual responses to the Juárez feminicides within the media of art, cinematography, photography and documentary filmmaking, many of which have received limited academic attention. Central to the reading of these works is an exploration of the represented feminicide body that functions as a prominent and persistent motif throughout, whether framed in its absent or present form, alive or deceased, conceptual or mimetic. Amongst these responses, the body is visualised variously and is attached to varying agendas: it is reconstructed in order to shed light on the systems of power that both produce and erase it at the border; it is re-visioned as a site of resistance that counteracts the spectacles of violence that have dehumanised it; and it is re-embodied in order to evoke its absence and to remember it as a subject that has been lost. In this thesis, I propose that the body, in its various representations, functions as a privileged site of meaning. It is shown to be a vantage-point from which to contemplate the politics of precarious female existence at the U.S.-Mexico border whilst reclaiming visibility for the victims whose lives have been rendered invisible by violence and unheeding justice systems. My analyses will draw on the creative treatment of the body, engaging with its re-imagining, aestheticisation and portrayal. The body’s function within these visual texts, I will argue, serves as a critical space for examining the intersecting social, political and economic forces which underpin anti-female terror in the contemporary Mexican context. Closely intertwined with the aesthetics of these visual responses are questions of a decisive ethical nature in relationship to exploitation, spectatorship, and the sensationalising of gender-violence which will be addressed accordingly. Given the interdisciplinary nature of the field of study, and the divergent aesthetic practices discussed in this thesis, the analyses of the selected visual works will be supported by a multifocal theoretical framework, with an approximation to crucial scholarly discourses that link to notions of disposability, necropolitics, biopolitics, bare life, sexual violence, absence and grievability. 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisors Professor Abigail Lee Six and Professor Ignacio Sánchez Prado. This thesis would not have been possible without their wisdom, encouragement and human kindness. I will be forever indebted to their commitment to see this project through to fruition. I would also like to thank other colleagues and friends in the School of Modern Languages, Literatures & Cultures for their support and generosity during the process, particularly Alba Chaparro, Marta Pérez-Carbonell and Dr Arantza Mayo. I am also grateful to Dr Sarah Wright for her advice during this final year, as well as Dr Miriam Haddu, whose undergraduate lectures first inspired my interest in Mexican visual culture. My time at Royal Holloway, University of London, has been incredibly rewarding thanks to my students in the Hispanic Department. Their intelligence and spirit always made teaching my courses a real pleasure. Whilst conducting research in the U.S. and Mexico I met many academics, activists and cultural practitioners that have generously contributed to this thesis. I would like to thank Kathleen Staudt, Maria Socorro Tabuenca, Irasema Coronado, Tony Payan, Deborah Dorotinsky, Helena Lopez, Rían Lozano, David Wood, Oswaldo Zavala, Kerry Doyle, Véronica Corchado, Kirsten Nigro, César Fuentes and Mariana Berlanga. I am particularly grateful to Julia Monárrez Fragoso. During my time spent in Ciudad Juárez, she kindly guided me around the region. This first-hand experience opened my eyes to the dynamics of the U.S.-Mexico border, from its bustling urban areas to the remotest desert lotes where pink crosses still stand tall to commemorate victims of feminicide. I am also very fortunate to have had the opportunity to meet with and interview Judithe Hernández, César Saldívar, Enrique Arroyo and Carlos Carrera, whose visual responses to gender-violence in Ciudad Juárez, amongst others, are the focus of this study. Mexico City was an important research base for this project. My thanks extend to those who assisted me at IMCINE, Cineteca, Museo de la Memoria y Tolerancia, Museo Rufino Tamayo, Instituto Nacional de las Mujeres, UNAM and the Universidad Iberoamericana. I was blessed to meet some wonderful people during my visits to the capital who will most certainly remain friends for life. I would like to express my sincere thanks to Samuel, Miguel and Cecilia for their help and kind-heartedness. Special thanks go to my dear friend, Pablo, for being so accommodating, generous and fun. 4 Finally, closer to home, I would like to thank friends and family for their care and encouragement. Heartfelt thanks go to Hasreen and Bhumika for their unwavering friendship and moral support over the years. A special mention goes to Luke, Rich, Gladys, Clive, Steve, Jen, Ella, Sue and my Godmother, Fiona. I would also like to thank my friend, Fernando, for his sage advice and words of wisdom. I am indebted to my family: my mother, grandmother and aunt. They have always believed in me and supported me during the past years. To my father, whom I lost during this process – may we one day raise a glass of single malt again. Finally, I would like to acknowledge others that I have loved and lost along this journey, including cherished ‘four-legged’ companions. They are never far from my thoughts and I am grateful to them for having made my life richer and fuller. This doctoral project would not have been possible without the funding of Royal Holloway, University of London, and Santander Travel Grants. 5 Contents DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP ................................................................................................ 2 ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................................... 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................................. 4 Contents ................................................................................................................................................. 6 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................... 9 Chapter contents ...................................................................................................................... 10 Chapter 1 Historical and theoretical contexts ................................................................................. 15 Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 15 Theorising femi(ni)cide ........................................................................................................... 15 Cases of feminicide in Ciudad Juárez ...................................................................................... 18 (Un)reliable statistics ............................................................................................................... 19 Feminicide: abuses against the body and gender power relations ........................................... 25 The integrity of investigations and convictions ....................................................................... 30 A state of impunity fuelled by corruption ................................................................................ 34 Social insecurity: corruption, complicity and violence ............................................................ 35 Feminicide and neoliberalism .................................................................................................. 38 Tenets of neoliberalism ............................................................................................................ 39 Mexico: the neoliberal turn ...................................................................................................... 42 Females at the border: the global assembly line and NAFTA ................................................. 44 Theory: locating the body ........................................................................................................ 50 Concluding remarks ................................................................................................................. 55 Chapter 2 Biopolitics at the border: the body and bare life in Judithe Hernández’s The Juárez Series .................................................................................................................................................... 58 Introduction
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