Abolitionist feminisms and worlds that do not (re)traumatize
Caterina Stamou
Abstract
The article was written as part of the community course on Abolition Feminisms organized at the Feminist Autonomous Center for Research in the fall of 2022 in Athens, facilitated by Anna Carastathis. It examines abolition feminisms as a prefigurative political theory and praxis by focusing on their vision of building worlds that do not (re)traumatize. Setting as a main argument the fact that the prison-industrial complex is the preeminent (re)traumatizing mechanism on a global level, the article attempts to outline in a distinct way how abolition feminisms offer possibilities of individual and collective healing. Through political acts of transforming the way we deal with social relationships and harm, the article argues that abolition feminisms foster a culture of compassion against the dominant culture of punishment and violence inflicted by the prison system. Drawing from a largely foreign-language bibliography consisting of texts by activist-writers of the US feminist abolitionist genealogy, such as Angela Y. Davis, adrienne maree brown and Mariame Kaba, I trace their approach to concepts such as justice, harm and feeling, seeking to highlight the affective and relational aspects of the abolition feminist movement and its practices of healing and transformative justice. By taking into consideration recent trauma-informed critical references, the article concludes in highlighting the dialogic relationship between abolition and healing, the holistic dimension of abolitionist feminist political thought and praxis, as well as the necessity of abolitionism in the care of mental health and in various other, interdependent aspects of life.