Undocumented Latina GBV Survivors: Using Social Capital as a Form of Resistance

Carolyn Stauffer

doi:10.3390/socsci10120456

Abstract

This research draws on the tradition of Latinx critical race theory (LatCrit) to explore how social capital is deployed by undocumented Latina GBV survivors as a form of personal and collective resistance. The study uses the social capital matrices of bonding, bridging, and linking capital as its primary narrative analysis grids. The research qualitatively analyzes a sample of undocumented survivors’ counter-stories regarding three factors: citizenship status, help-seeking behaviors, and service use patterns. Research findings illuminate the social logics of GBV disclosure locations, the use of informal support services, and how survivors strategically deploy new economic opportunity structures. The article highlights the intersectionality of GBV and undocumented status, demonstrating how survivors leverage various forms of social capital to resist both the carceral state and the violence of abusers.

Highlights

This article is the third product emerging out of a multi-year research initiative called the Silent Violence project
This article focuses on findings related to the project’s undocumented Latina participants, analyzing the unique morphology of the bonding, bridging, and linking social capital they deploy as gender-based violence (GBV) resistance and resilience strategies
In what ways did respondents assert agency in terms of their deployment of linking capital? Here we find that the connections that respondents very strategically forge with new economic opportunity structures are key

Summary

Introduction

This article is the third product emerging out of a multi-year research initiative called the Silent Violence project. The Silent Violence project (SVP) explores how experiences of sexual and gender-based violence (GBV) compare and contrast across a variety of survivor communities, examining the role and impacts of identity and social location. This is done by comparing narratives of GBV across three specific survivor groups: (a) Latina’s who are undocumented, (b) women who experience chronic insecure housing, and (c) women from a conservative religious enclave. The research design uses the narrative analysis grids of bonding, bridging, and linking capital to code for recurrent patterns of social capital deployment. Tracking these deployment patterns makes visible the ‘how and why’ behind survivors’ disclosure choices, how they use social support networks, and the public services they do or don’t make use of

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion