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Une théorie féministe de la violence, Pour une politique antiraciste de la protection
Le langage officiel à propos de l’égalité hommes-femmes est un répertoire de violences : harcèlement, viol, maltraitance, féminicide.
Ces mots désignent une cruelle réalité. Mais n’en dissimulent-ils pas une autre, celle des violences commises avec la complicité de l’État ? Dans cet ouvrage, Françoise Vergès dénonce le tournant sécuritaire de la lutte contre le sexisme. En se focalisant sur des « hommes violents », on omet d’interroger les sources de cette violence. Pour l’autrice, cela ne fait aucun doute : le capitalisme racial, les populismes ultra-conservateurs, l’écrasement du Sud par les guerres et les pillages impérialistes, les millions d’exilé•es, l’escalade carcérale, mettent les masculinités au service d’une politique de mort. Contre l’air du temps, Françoise Vergès nous enjoint de refuser l’obsession punitive de l’État, au profit d’une justice réparatrice.
Ces mots désignent une cruelle réalité. Mais n’en dissimulent-ils pas une autre, celle des violences commises avec la complicité de l’État ? Dans cet ouvrage, Françoise Vergès dénonce le tournant sécuritaire de la lutte contre le sexisme. En se focalisant sur des « hommes violents », on omet d’interroger les sources de cette violence. Pour l’autrice, cela ne fait aucun doute : le capitalisme racial, les populismes ultra-conservateurs, l’écrasement du Sud par les guerres et les pillages impérialistes, les millions d’exilé•es, l’escalade carcérale, mettent les masculinités au service d’une politique de mort. Contre l’air du temps, Françoise Vergès nous enjoint de refuser l’obsession punitive de l’État, au profit d’une justice réparatrice.
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2020
89 people are currently reading
3140 people want to read
About the author
Françoise Vergès
50 books127 followersFrançoise Vergès (born 23 January 1952) is a French political scientist, historian, film producer, independent curator, activist and public educator. Her work focuses on postcolonial studies and decolonial feminism.
Vergès was born in Paris, grew up in Réunion and Algeria, before returning to Paris to study and become a journalist. She moved to the US in 1983, studying at the University of California, San Diego and Berkeley.
Vergès was born in Paris, grew up in Réunion and Algeria, before returning to Paris to study and become a journalist. She moved to the US in 1983, studying at the University of California, San Diego and Berkeley.
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March 8, 2022
My thanks to Pluto Press and Edelweiss for a review copy of this book.
A Feminist Theory of Violence: A Decolonial Perspective is a short book by French political scientist and historian Françoise Vergès, and translated by Melissa Thackaway. The book views the current state of violence in society from a feminist perspective/lens, focusing on but at the same time not restricted to violence against women.
Violence in the book is considered in a wider sense not only including physical violence as commonly understood (rape, massacres, genocide, and so on) and also perpetrated, for instance in wars, but also discrimination, hardship and vulnerabilities, the burden of which is borne (unfairly) by only certain segments (women, racialized people, those dubbed as ‘dangerous’ classes, etc.), degradation of our ecosystems, and relentless exploitation of resources.
The book argues that we cannot respond to and address violence against women without considering violence as a whole—the global state of violence that persists today (as she writes a one point—a world where ‘war has been naturalized and peace reduced to an interlude between two violent moments…’). Violence, as she points out, including enslavement, exploitation, torture and censorship have always been the ‘tools of colonialism and capitalism disguised as civilizing missions and humanitarian missions’. The Western way of life, which elites all over the world have adopted, in fact rests on the normalization of violence. In such a scenario, how can one address violence which becomes both ‘inevitable’ and ‘necessary’?
Not only that, the entity/authority that is charged with ‘protecting’ people from violence—the state—itself perpetrates violence—militarizing protection, enhancing surveillance, creating enclaves (‘safe’ spaces vis-à-vis others), ‘constructing’ people into ‘dangerous’ classes and races. In practice, peoples are divided into those seen ‘worthy’ of protection and those excluded from it, which Vergès describes as ‘a tangible division that describes the social world’. As she writes, ‘When protection is subjected to racial, class, gender and sexual criteria, it contributes in its logic and its application to domination’.
Feminism too, is divided today into ‘appropriate’ (which doesn’t attack capitalism), and that which is anti-fascist and anti-capitalist. A decolonial feminism according to her is aware of the violence of the state and the impacts of racism and colonialism and the relevance of all forms of struggle. It is also about evoking the right to a peaceful life in a violent world—developing a ‘right to rest, to a peaceful life’. She also stresses the need to protect human beings ‘without turning them into victims and without considering weakness as a failing’.
This is a powerful and thought-provoking book which peels away the facades that society currently lives behind—of peace, justice, equality, and rights. It highlights a number of relevant issues, among them the need to address violence as a whole and in all its forms that pervade our society today, rather than singling out different forms for that can clearly never be effective since as she notes violence today is normalised. In that regard, it is as important to address the differentiation of people—their classification on the basis of race, gender, class, sexual orientation—as those seen as worthy of being protected and those not. As is clear from the examples she cites, such distinctions are traceable to and continue on from colonialism at which time existing ‘human rights’ protections like prohibitions on slavery were manipulated so as to allow the practice to flourish. Today, these are reflected in the denial of roles of peoples (often from the Global South) in the every day fulfilment of the ‘ideal’ lives in the Global North, for not only do they face discrimination, exploitation and vulnerability in the everyday—but when they might be victims/accused in ‘crimes’, they receive differential treatment from a machinery supposedly created to protect all.
The book illustrates its points with examples and instances from different parts of the world including the United States and India, but I particularly found interesting instances from French colonial history and contemporary French politics, as well as from French overseas territories like Guadeloupe, of which my knowledge is limited.
We seem still left with many questions—will the world ever see sense, see what they are doing (after all, for instance, after the pandemic and the positive impacts on nature during the lockdown, we seem to have learnt little); if the state itself is complicit in violence, what/who are we to turn to; if discrimination and attitudes towards certain sections of society persist in practice despite all of the instruments we supposedly have in place, what is their value?
While I thought the book makes a number of relevant points, I felt at the end one is left with rather a sense of despair for as the author concludes—'we are living in an era in which it is impossible to escape the unleashing of uncontrollable violence produced by greed, cupidity, and power unless we organize alongside those who have nothing to lose’.
A Feminist Theory of Violence: A Decolonial Perspective is a short book by French political scientist and historian Françoise Vergès, and translated by Melissa Thackaway. The book views the current state of violence in society from a feminist perspective/lens, focusing on but at the same time not restricted to violence against women.
Violence in the book is considered in a wider sense not only including physical violence as commonly understood (rape, massacres, genocide, and so on) and also perpetrated, for instance in wars, but also discrimination, hardship and vulnerabilities, the burden of which is borne (unfairly) by only certain segments (women, racialized people, those dubbed as ‘dangerous’ classes, etc.), degradation of our ecosystems, and relentless exploitation of resources.
The book argues that we cannot respond to and address violence against women without considering violence as a whole—the global state of violence that persists today (as she writes a one point—a world where ‘war has been naturalized and peace reduced to an interlude between two violent moments…’). Violence, as she points out, including enslavement, exploitation, torture and censorship have always been the ‘tools of colonialism and capitalism disguised as civilizing missions and humanitarian missions’. The Western way of life, which elites all over the world have adopted, in fact rests on the normalization of violence. In such a scenario, how can one address violence which becomes both ‘inevitable’ and ‘necessary’?
Not only that, the entity/authority that is charged with ‘protecting’ people from violence—the state—itself perpetrates violence—militarizing protection, enhancing surveillance, creating enclaves (‘safe’ spaces vis-à-vis others), ‘constructing’ people into ‘dangerous’ classes and races. In practice, peoples are divided into those seen ‘worthy’ of protection and those excluded from it, which Vergès describes as ‘a tangible division that describes the social world’. As she writes, ‘When protection is subjected to racial, class, gender and sexual criteria, it contributes in its logic and its application to domination’.
Feminism too, is divided today into ‘appropriate’ (which doesn’t attack capitalism), and that which is anti-fascist and anti-capitalist. A decolonial feminism according to her is aware of the violence of the state and the impacts of racism and colonialism and the relevance of all forms of struggle. It is also about evoking the right to a peaceful life in a violent world—developing a ‘right to rest, to a peaceful life’. She also stresses the need to protect human beings ‘without turning them into victims and without considering weakness as a failing’.
This is a powerful and thought-provoking book which peels away the facades that society currently lives behind—of peace, justice, equality, and rights. It highlights a number of relevant issues, among them the need to address violence as a whole and in all its forms that pervade our society today, rather than singling out different forms for that can clearly never be effective since as she notes violence today is normalised. In that regard, it is as important to address the differentiation of people—their classification on the basis of race, gender, class, sexual orientation—as those seen as worthy of being protected and those not. As is clear from the examples she cites, such distinctions are traceable to and continue on from colonialism at which time existing ‘human rights’ protections like prohibitions on slavery were manipulated so as to allow the practice to flourish. Today, these are reflected in the denial of roles of peoples (often from the Global South) in the every day fulfilment of the ‘ideal’ lives in the Global North, for not only do they face discrimination, exploitation and vulnerability in the everyday—but when they might be victims/accused in ‘crimes’, they receive differential treatment from a machinery supposedly created to protect all.
The book illustrates its points with examples and instances from different parts of the world including the United States and India, but I particularly found interesting instances from French colonial history and contemporary French politics, as well as from French overseas territories like Guadeloupe, of which my knowledge is limited.
We seem still left with many questions—will the world ever see sense, see what they are doing (after all, for instance, after the pandemic and the positive impacts on nature during the lockdown, we seem to have learnt little); if the state itself is complicit in violence, what/who are we to turn to; if discrimination and attitudes towards certain sections of society persist in practice despite all of the instruments we supposedly have in place, what is their value?
While I thought the book makes a number of relevant points, I felt at the end one is left with rather a sense of despair for as the author concludes—'we are living in an era in which it is impossible to escape the unleashing of uncontrollable violence produced by greed, cupidity, and power unless we organize alongside those who have nothing to lose’.
March 12, 2022
A nuanced and well researched intersectional view of feminist thought and it's shortcomings. Dealing deftly with race, incarceration, capitalism, and modernity all at the same time, Verges still manages to be concise and direct in her message.
We cannot be effective feminists until we seek to end violence toward women (and men!) through a systemic and restorative approach rather than our tried and true penal system. This book outlines well exactly why that is.
We cannot be effective feminists until we seek to end violence toward women (and men!) through a systemic and restorative approach rather than our tried and true penal system. This book outlines well exactly why that is.
April 9, 2021
une écriture moins fluide que féminisme decoloniale et des citations à chaque ligne. le découpage est confus mais le fond est important. je recommanderai plutôt de lire se défendre d’elsa dolrin, à la place.
July 21, 2025
Jaka to dobra książka była. Vergès dekolonialna feministka i abolicjonistka, rozprawia się z zachodnim, liberalnym feminizmem i jego obsesją na punkcie „chronienia” kobiet poprzez wyroki więzienia, policję itp, co nazywa feminizmem karceralnym. Zamiast tego oferuje radykalne przedefiniowanie przemocy. Pokazuje, jak kolonializm, kapitalizm i rasizm są powiązane z przemocą ze strony państwa. Generalnie: nie da się walczyć z patriarchalną przemocą za pomocą instytucji, które tę przemoc wytworzyły.
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April 13, 2022Francoise Verges's new book asks a simple question: what actually is the politics of protection? What she reveals is a paradigm spinning analysis. Once she establishes the perspective of people without power, the "protection" offered by the state and the meta-state of global capital, is exposed as a killing machine of enforcement and endless punishment. A door opening work.
November 22, 2022
u zaglušujućoj buci inih vrsta karceralnih feminizama – onih koji se zalažu ili na bilo koji način podupiru postojeće sisteme kažnjavanja, zatvaranja i policiju, te koji hoće strožije kazne za prestupnike, više kazni, više zatvora, više policije, jače sudstvo, odnosno sve oblike državne „zaštite‟ ‒ postoje i knjige poput ove, koje odlično p(r)okazuju probleme s takvim simplificiranim pristupima nasilju, te koje uopšte ne ‘angeliziraju’ koncept feminizma, nego jasno naznačuju linije razdvajanja između vrlo različitih feminizama : pa je, prema Fransoaz Veržes, pozicija dekolonijalnog feminizma (un féminisme décolonial) sasvim suprotna od svih onih struja feminizama koje potpadaju pod ono što ona imenuje civilizatorskim feminizom (un féminisme civilisationnel), čija je suštinska misija civiliziranje (pretpostavka je: ne-civiliziranih) : civilizatorskim feminizmom autorka naziva sve one vrste feminizama koji su misionarski, koji imaju civilizatorsku misiju (mission civilisatrice) ‘spašavanja žena’, uglavnom siromašnih i ne-bijelih žena od (nasilnih) muškaraca iz njihovih patrijarhalnih zajednica i od ‘primitivnih, ‘nazadnjačkih’ kultura (koje treba ukrcati u voz kapitalizma, pa ne samo nadzirati i kazniti, nego i zadužiti i upregnuti njihova radna tijela u stvaranje dobiti za bogate) : civilizatorski feminizam je, dakle, blizak državi i učvršćuje državu, te u ime ‘ženskih prava’ podupire imperijalne, islamofobne, kolonizatorske, rasističke, sekuritarne itsl. projekte („.. državni i prividno univerzalistički feminizam kojem sekuritarne i i imperijalističke politike ne smetaju‟) : kada se govori o rodno temeljenom nasilju, civilizatorski feminizam prevashodno ističe nasilje nad ženama, a nad kojim ženama, iz kojih klasa, kakvih rasijaliziranih, etniziranih i drugih iskustava, te šta uopšte znači iskustvo bivanja „ženom‟ i ko se računa kao „žena‟ to civilizatorski feminizmi ne propituju, oni pretpostavljaju : ne daju uzročna objašnjenja već uzročna svođenja, zapravo ne objašnjavaju, nego opisuju i pretpostavljaju : jer počivaju na ideji podrazumijevajuće i tobože univerzalne kategorije Žene, pa ta esencijalizirajuća kategorija dobro dođe kao paravan za prikrivanje svih drugih opresija, potčinjavanja i eksploatacije „Pojam ‘žene’, skovan da se opiše realnost koja pretenduje na homogenost, osvetljava opšti karakter potlačenosti, prikrivajući različitost njenih formi‟ : dekolonijalni feminizam, pak, polazi od toga da valja preispitati „zapadnu feminističku ideologiju koja bi htela sebe da vidi kao univerzalnu, koja bi volela da govori u ime svih žena’’ : dekolonijalni feminizam govori o orodnjenim oblicima nasilja, te kako su oni sistemski uvezani s drugim formama nasilja koje kapitalizam proizvodi i reprodukuje : nasilje se dakle misli kao strukturno, stoga je i orodnjeno nasilje (la violence genrée) ili nasilje temeljeno na rodu (la violence fondée sur le genre) nemoguće misliti bez promišljanja celovite strukture nasilja, a onda nije nevažno o kojim ženama i drugim društveno-ranjivima govorimo kada govorimo o nasilju, također moramo govoriti i o nasilju nad muškarcima, te nasilju nad brojnim marginaliziranim grupama : „Odvajanje situacije žena od konteksta globalne naturalizacije nasilja održava podvojenost koja ide u korist patrijarhata i kapitalizma, pošto se tako identifikuju i kažnjavaju ‘nasilni muškarci’, naturalizuje se nasilje pojedinaca, a strukture koje proizvode to jezivo nasilje ostaju netaknute‟ : Veržes, naravno, govori i o ozbiljnom problemu silovanja muškaraca (posebice muškaraca iz nižih klasa, lgbtiq+ muškaraca, rasijaliziranih muškaraca itd.) ne umanjujući težinu fenomena silovanja žena : iz ovakve perspektive, policija, sudstvo, pravo i zakon nisu ništa neutralno, jer nam je istorija državnih politika zaštite pokazala da je rasistička, kolonijalna, seksistička, da štiti određena tijela isključujući i tlačeći ona tijela za koja se smatra da ne zaslužuju zaštitu, a ne zaboravimo i to da su policija i vojska jedne od ključnih instanci silovanja… : stoga se iz ove feminističke vizure ne pristaje na zadate okvire, na kazne, na policijsko i sudsko nasilje – čija je glavna svrha da kriminalizira siromašne, rasijalizirane, ejblizirane i druge marginalizovane : policija je kapitalistička tvorevima par excellence, te se dekolonijalni feminizam ne zalaže za strožije kazne i više policije, niti za reformu policije, nego za aboliciju policije! zaštitu ne možemo prepustiti onim strukturama koje i postoje u svrhe održavanja i produbljivanja podele na one živote koji zaslužuju protekciju i na one koji to ne zaslužuju, na življive i neživljive živote…
čini mi se da s ovim prevodom na srpski ima ne-malih problema : ovde ću samo istaći da je već prevod ‘civilizatorskog feminizma’ kao ‘prosvetiteljskog’ nedostatan, jer nisu sasvim preklapajući pojmovi i nije baš najbolje rešenje ono kojim se briše specifična povijesno-konceptualna uloga prosvetiteljstva u istoriji ideja, ali ima i ozbiljnijih grešaka (nadam se re-izdanju i ako ikako mogu pomoću u poboljšanju prevoda, tu sam)
čini mi se da s ovim prevodom na srpski ima ne-malih problema : ovde ću samo istaći da je već prevod ‘civilizatorskog feminizma’ kao ‘prosvetiteljskog’ nedostatan, jer nisu sasvim preklapajući pojmovi i nije baš najbolje rešenje ono kojim se briše specifična povijesno-konceptualna uloga prosvetiteljstva u istoriji ideja, ali ima i ozbiljnijih grešaka (nadam se re-izdanju i ako ikako mogu pomoću u poboljšanju prevoda, tu sam)
May 30, 2024
Enjoyed this and its well-researched and organized critiques until the concluding chapter, which was majorly disjointed both in arguments and focus. Seemingly written as the Covid-19 pandemic was in its infancy, it makes several comments about and has open hostility towards what she calls “the politics of lockdown,” yet evades specifics about the connection between a public health crisis and violence — aside from mentioning a “bourgeoise concept of cleanliness” and water access being unequal (all because we needed to be more mindful of handwashing??). She also briefly touched upon rates of DV continuing/escalating in the time when folks needed to distance from one another and stay home more often, yet omitted an investigation into why women are unsafe in their own homes in the first place.
Really disappointed to see a piece otherwise skilled at connecting different forms of violence and their structural origins completely miss the mark around a disabling mass death public health outbreak that seemed to be a veiled anti-precautions rant — particularly as it was focused on highlighting the need for solidarity amongst all oppressed groups.
Really disappointed to see a piece otherwise skilled at connecting different forms of violence and their structural origins completely miss the mark around a disabling mass death public health outbreak that seemed to be a veiled anti-precautions rant — particularly as it was focused on highlighting the need for solidarity amongst all oppressed groups.
January 1, 2023
4.5 stars.
I first encountered Vergès when reading about Réunion — an island east of Madagascar, near Mauritius. There were a few months of my life during which I was very preoccupied with learning about coffee. There's a variety/cultivar of coffee, bourbon, that commands a somewhat elevated reputation among some cohorts of coffee roasters. It's named after Réunion island, which was formerly known to French colonizers as Bourbon island, named after the royal House of Bourbon. The name was later changed during the French Revolution, which occurred in the same moment as the abolition of slavery in that French colony. Vergès’ doctoral dissertation at Berkeley was entitled, “Monsters and revolutionaries: Colonial family romance and grooming.” It was a political history of Réunion and her own family’s engagement with its politics. Her father Paul Vergès was the founder of the Communist Party of Réunion, and later ran as a candidate for the French Communist Party. Paul’s mother (Francoise’s grandmother) is of Vietnamese ancestry.
This book was a very readable critique of carceral feminism, and a very helpful theorization of violence for me. There are some forays into current feminist debates that I feel fairly undecided upon at the moment, but overall I enjoyed reading this book (to the extent one can enjoy a book about violence). I think this excerpt from the preface sums up well what this book is about:
“The Western way of life, adopted now also by elites in the Global South, rests on the normalization of violence, on making violence not only inevitable but also necessary. Images of what is shown as the good life abound in glossy magazines, in films, or in TV series—clean neighborhoods, houses with luxurious gardens, healthy children laughing while playing on clean beaches, women doing yoga in serene landscapes, hipsters with trimmed beards that do not get them racially profiled, vacations in beautiful places from which the poor are evicted, white saviors doing good deeds, electric cars to save the planet, leisure that cultivates one’s mind, food that is grown with respect to the planet… They construct a visual world that adheres to a beauty and harmony which masks its attending violence. Its protection is then presented as the fight of civilization against barbarism, plagues, violence, gangs, violence against women and girls. Protection is understood in the colonial tradition: keep the barbarians at the gates; militarize the public space; create social, environmental, and cultural segregation; use artwashing, politics of bourgeois respectability and white feminism to justify this segregation. The wealth that has allowed this good life was accumulated thanks to the extraction of cheap energy (coal and hydrocarbons), the looting and plundering of natural resources by colonial powers. The well-being of European and North American populations was built at the expense of the colonized world. This good life, that reveals a constant stark inequality between North and South, rests on the super-exploitation of the Global South’s resources, on the exhaustion, until premature death, of the life force and energy of Black and brown peoples. That it must be protected by all means is taken for granted, for is it not the sign of progress and civilization, and the object of envy and desire by “the rest”?
Violence is consubstantial to racial capitalism; it is not something that comes afterwards, the act of some extreme groups. Ecosystem degradation is accelerated by capitalism, which intensifies pollution and waste, deforestation, land-use change and exploitation, and carbon-driven energy systems. Rape, land theft, genocide, massacres, assassinations, destruction of public services, processes of enslavement, creation of private militias, torture, censorship, have always been the tools of colonialism and capitalism disguised as civilizing missions or humanitarian interventions. Imperialist wars leave behind ruins, pollution, devastation and misery and their “end” means that war is pursued through other means. Afghanistan, Palestine, Iraq, are the current names of this kind of war.”
I first encountered Vergès when reading about Réunion — an island east of Madagascar, near Mauritius. There were a few months of my life during which I was very preoccupied with learning about coffee. There's a variety/cultivar of coffee, bourbon, that commands a somewhat elevated reputation among some cohorts of coffee roasters. It's named after Réunion island, which was formerly known to French colonizers as Bourbon island, named after the royal House of Bourbon. The name was later changed during the French Revolution, which occurred in the same moment as the abolition of slavery in that French colony. Vergès’ doctoral dissertation at Berkeley was entitled, “Monsters and revolutionaries: Colonial family romance and grooming.” It was a political history of Réunion and her own family’s engagement with its politics. Her father Paul Vergès was the founder of the Communist Party of Réunion, and later ran as a candidate for the French Communist Party. Paul’s mother (Francoise’s grandmother) is of Vietnamese ancestry.
This book was a very readable critique of carceral feminism, and a very helpful theorization of violence for me. There are some forays into current feminist debates that I feel fairly undecided upon at the moment, but overall I enjoyed reading this book (to the extent one can enjoy a book about violence). I think this excerpt from the preface sums up well what this book is about:
“The Western way of life, adopted now also by elites in the Global South, rests on the normalization of violence, on making violence not only inevitable but also necessary. Images of what is shown as the good life abound in glossy magazines, in films, or in TV series—clean neighborhoods, houses with luxurious gardens, healthy children laughing while playing on clean beaches, women doing yoga in serene landscapes, hipsters with trimmed beards that do not get them racially profiled, vacations in beautiful places from which the poor are evicted, white saviors doing good deeds, electric cars to save the planet, leisure that cultivates one’s mind, food that is grown with respect to the planet… They construct a visual world that adheres to a beauty and harmony which masks its attending violence. Its protection is then presented as the fight of civilization against barbarism, plagues, violence, gangs, violence against women and girls. Protection is understood in the colonial tradition: keep the barbarians at the gates; militarize the public space; create social, environmental, and cultural segregation; use artwashing, politics of bourgeois respectability and white feminism to justify this segregation. The wealth that has allowed this good life was accumulated thanks to the extraction of cheap energy (coal and hydrocarbons), the looting and plundering of natural resources by colonial powers. The well-being of European and North American populations was built at the expense of the colonized world. This good life, that reveals a constant stark inequality between North and South, rests on the super-exploitation of the Global South’s resources, on the exhaustion, until premature death, of the life force and energy of Black and brown peoples. That it must be protected by all means is taken for granted, for is it not the sign of progress and civilization, and the object of envy and desire by “the rest”?
Violence is consubstantial to racial capitalism; it is not something that comes afterwards, the act of some extreme groups. Ecosystem degradation is accelerated by capitalism, which intensifies pollution and waste, deforestation, land-use change and exploitation, and carbon-driven energy systems. Rape, land theft, genocide, massacres, assassinations, destruction of public services, processes of enslavement, creation of private militias, torture, censorship, have always been the tools of colonialism and capitalism disguised as civilizing missions or humanitarian interventions. Imperialist wars leave behind ruins, pollution, devastation and misery and their “end” means that war is pursued through other means. Afghanistan, Palestine, Iraq, are the current names of this kind of war.”
June 5, 2025
slayou, leiam! a polícia e a vigilância não vão salvar as mulheres 🤓
January 31, 2025
Un libro para pensar horizontes antipunitivistas, anticapitalistas y antifascistas. Un libro muy necesario para entender la violencia como un elemento estructurante del patriarcado y el capitalismo. 🔥🔥🔥
October 1, 2024
Weniger theorielastig als ich dachte, aber dennoch eim sehr starkes Buch.
July 17, 2025
“What guarantee do we have that the protection of women and their freedom of movement will not be based in this militarization of the public, and even private, space?”
December 26, 2020
Première introduction à Françoise Vergès (Un féminisme décolonial va suivre), j'avoue ressortir un peu déçu de ma lecture que je résumerais comme un bon condensé de pensées et un petit rappel historique des violences (racistes, féminicides) et des actions menées par les opprimé·e·s. Prenant appui sur les pensées de nombreuses autres femmes autrices défendant des idées similaires, Vergès construit le récit de la répression raciale et genrée perpétrée par l'homme occidentale, tout en révélant les limites et les stratagèmes du féminisme étatique. Vergès nous parle de colonisation, prison, travail du sexe, genre, viol, urbanisme... Chouette livre qui donne simplement l'impression d'être une compilation succincte de quelques pensées publiées dans les dernières années et vues par le prisme de l'actualité récentes (mouvements sociaux de 2019-2020, Covid-19).
Livres cités dans l'ouvrage qui ont déjà faits leurs preuves : Se défendre, une philosophie de la violence, Pour elles toutes : femmes contre la prison, Une culture du viol à la française & Ne crois pas avoir de droits .
Livres cités dans l'ouvrage qui ont déjà faits leurs preuves : Se défendre, une philosophie de la violence, Pour elles toutes : femmes contre la prison, Une culture du viol à la française & Ne crois pas avoir de droits .
January 22, 2021
Cet ouvrage s'inscrit dans la continuité de "Pour un féminisme décolonial" de la même autrice. Ainsi, Vergès s'emploie à décrire précisément comment le néolibéralisme s'articule avec le patriarcat pour former un système violent et destructeur pour les êtres humains et leur environnement à travers une perspective historique et sociale.
De même, Vergès développe une dialectique entre le féminisme décolonial et le féminisme universaliste (blanc bourgeois pour le dire avec de vrais mots) afin de montrer pourquoi ce dernier fonctionne en connivence avec l'État, le capitalisme et le patriarcat et non en faveur d'une émancipation des femmes. En ce sens, elle montre en quoi ce féminisme produit une pensée de la punition et non un projet de transformation de la société qui permettrait de la dépatriarcaliser. Elle est d'ailleurs contre la prison et cite à plusieurs reprises Gwenola Ricordeau sur le sujet.
Il est donc question d'intersectionnalité avec les personnes LGBT+, les TDS et évidemment les personnes racisées (elle dit non-blanche). Pas d'impasse sur les violences spécifiques à ces classes sociales, il faut articuler une lutte qui comprend ces spécificités et les prennent en compte pour protéger l'utopie d'un sursaut conservateur. Et pour arriver à cette utopie, il faut envisager de manière forte l'autodéfense pour s'assurer de l'autonomie (au niveau des revendications) vis à vis de l'État.
J'ai vraiment beaucoup aimé ce livre, il faut absolument que vous le lisiez. Il est pas trop long (160 pages) pour un prix moyen (12€) mais c'est clairement un indispensable.
De même, Vergès développe une dialectique entre le féminisme décolonial et le féminisme universaliste (blanc bourgeois pour le dire avec de vrais mots) afin de montrer pourquoi ce dernier fonctionne en connivence avec l'État, le capitalisme et le patriarcat et non en faveur d'une émancipation des femmes. En ce sens, elle montre en quoi ce féminisme produit une pensée de la punition et non un projet de transformation de la société qui permettrait de la dépatriarcaliser. Elle est d'ailleurs contre la prison et cite à plusieurs reprises Gwenola Ricordeau sur le sujet.
Il est donc question d'intersectionnalité avec les personnes LGBT+, les TDS et évidemment les personnes racisées (elle dit non-blanche). Pas d'impasse sur les violences spécifiques à ces classes sociales, il faut articuler une lutte qui comprend ces spécificités et les prennent en compte pour protéger l'utopie d'un sursaut conservateur. Et pour arriver à cette utopie, il faut envisager de manière forte l'autodéfense pour s'assurer de l'autonomie (au niveau des revendications) vis à vis de l'État.
J'ai vraiment beaucoup aimé ce livre, il faut absolument que vous le lisiez. Il est pas trop long (160 pages) pour un prix moyen (12€) mais c'est clairement un indispensable.
March 24, 2024
très intéressant. l’autrice développe toutes les formes de violences que subissent les minorités oppressées et met en avant le fait que même si chacune peut paraître indépendante elles sont le fruit d’une seule instance qui est l’état qui écrase ceux et celles qui ne sont pas blanc•hes bourgeois het valides à cause d’un capitalisme raciste et sexiste. c’est un livre qui parle à la fois de l’histoire de la violence mais également ses formes actuelles. je recommande
January 28, 2025
Un libro maravilloso con un análisis estructural de las violencias que hace que te hagas mil millones de preguntas. La autora traza una linea entre la lucha por la abolición de las prisiones en los años 70 y los movimientos feministas actuales, para acabar apuntando posibles horizontes hacia los que seguir dirigiéndonos. Una apuesta por la imaginación radical: vencer el miedo sin emplear el terror 🖤
February 2, 2023
A building in and repetition of many ideas brought up in A Decolonial Feminism. These English translations are helping to build the reputation of Vergès as working within an ever more powerful school of feminist thought and practice.
Some of the translation was questionable at times, but still provides for a clear and concise argument for a decolonial feminist approach to Violence.
Some of the translation was questionable at times, but still provides for a clear and concise argument for a decolonial feminist approach to Violence.
December 7, 2023
Absolutely essential reading, the focus on French history really illuminates and clarifies the argument where it might be otherwise too abstract. I don’t think that it’s final ambiguity is a problem- in 80 pages no one can be expected to both dissect and solve problems of colonialism and feminism?
July 23, 2024
A lot of super important points were made about gender-based violence through the lenses of different forms of feminism. This was a great read and I recommend it for anyone wanting new perspectives on violence upheld by the State. I will warn you that sometimes the text seems to ramble on, but it was originally written in French… and I mean how can you not ramble about such a severe and global issue?
January 7, 2023
2.5 stars really and truly - I think it is a good introductory text to those who don’t know anything about the problems of carceral feminism, racial nature of policing, or prison abolition. For those of you who do, I would suggest skipping this; the analysis felt like nothing new and echoing previous arguments made by abolitionist feminists and black feminists without Verges herself adding anything new besides contemporary examples to illustrate these points.
Each chapter was approx 20 pages and brought up so many points but due to its short and compact nature, Verges could not thoroughly engage with the ideas she brought up and ultimately stifled the potentially radical and critical nature of her text.
What I would recommend instead (texts that addressed the points Verges made/brought up in brilliant and incisive ways - although they are more difficult, which is why I think Feminist Theory of Violence is a good introductory text):
- Revolting Prostitutes: The Fight for Sex Workers Rights by Molly Smith and Juno Mac
- The Right to Maim by Jasbir Puar
- No Mercy Here by Sarah Haley
- Mama’s Baby, Papa’s Maybe by Hortense Spillers
- Captive Genders by E A Stanley and N Smith
- Us and Them? The Dangerous Politics of Immigration Control by Bridget Anderson
- Race, Gender, and the Body in British Immigration Control by E Smith and M Marmo
Also, the lack of engagement here with Puar’s work, Haley’s work, and masculinities studies really disappointed me.
Each chapter was approx 20 pages and brought up so many points but due to its short and compact nature, Verges could not thoroughly engage with the ideas she brought up and ultimately stifled the potentially radical and critical nature of her text.
What I would recommend instead (texts that addressed the points Verges made/brought up in brilliant and incisive ways - although they are more difficult, which is why I think Feminist Theory of Violence is a good introductory text):
- Revolting Prostitutes: The Fight for Sex Workers Rights by Molly Smith and Juno Mac
- The Right to Maim by Jasbir Puar
- No Mercy Here by Sarah Haley
- Mama’s Baby, Papa’s Maybe by Hortense Spillers
- Captive Genders by E A Stanley and N Smith
- Us and Them? The Dangerous Politics of Immigration Control by Bridget Anderson
- Race, Gender, and the Body in British Immigration Control by E Smith and M Marmo
Also, the lack of engagement here with Puar’s work, Haley’s work, and masculinities studies really disappointed me.
do-not-read
December 8, 2022Is the synopsis for this book telling me there is no sex-based violence against women in non-capitalist, non-formerly-imperialist, state-based countries?
This kind of Lalaland myopia is as exhausting as it is boneheaded. Hard pass.
This kind of Lalaland myopia is as exhausting as it is boneheaded. Hard pass.
July 4, 2025
i found the main argument of the book intriguing and exciting: carceral and punitive feminism (punishing and jailing men) is not effective to ending the violence against women. we must understand how misogyny and femicide are directly linked to racism, capitalism, militarism, and colonialism.
in carceral feminism women entrust the State to protect them which more often then not fails to, especially for women of color. the politics of protection include militarization of public spaces and excluding marginalized groups. despite the majority of violence being committed in the private sphere, women are trained to fear the public sphere.
i learned a lot from this book but did not like the structure. the first 2 chapters are in some ways disorganized. i wish the book was slightly more accessible but after all it is a book on theory. only the last chapter really focuses on the premise of the book and other sections are related to different -isms.
to imagine a world without systems of oppression is an act of resistance. my one critique is that the men who created these systems do not deserve my grace.
in carceral feminism women entrust the State to protect them which more often then not fails to, especially for women of color. the politics of protection include militarization of public spaces and excluding marginalized groups. despite the majority of violence being committed in the private sphere, women are trained to fear the public sphere.
i learned a lot from this book but did not like the structure. the first 2 chapters are in some ways disorganized. i wish the book was slightly more accessible but after all it is a book on theory. only the last chapter really focuses on the premise of the book and other sections are related to different -isms.
to imagine a world without systems of oppression is an act of resistance. my one critique is that the men who created these systems do not deserve my grace.
August 4, 2025
Niet ideaal gestructureerd en ik wou dat er soms wat meer tijd werd genomen om een theorie helemaal uit te werken, mocht voor mij echt 3x zo lang zijn want er werden veel punten aangehaald en connecties gemaakt maar vaak werden quotes gebruikt ipv zelf de redenering volledig te maken.
Maar toch .. een super super interessante en belangrijke tekst. Zij is echt zwaar facts aan het spitten op elke pagina ! !!
Wilt IEDEREEN dit lezen aub ???
Maar toch .. een super super interessante en belangrijke tekst. Zij is echt zwaar facts aan het spitten op elke pagina ! !!
Wilt IEDEREEN dit lezen aub ???
Read
November 21, 2025«Parler de protéger les femmes des violences systémiques ne peut se concevoir selon une approche binaire, femmes victimes et hommes bourreaux, où il s'agirait de confier le rôle de protecteur à l'État mâle, violeur, les féminicides étant „l'expression ultime d'un continuum de pouvoir qui commence par la prégnance des inégalités sociales et économiques, le harcèlement sexuel, les violences sexuelles et les représentations sexistes qui structurent l'imaginaire social et l'espace public.”»
July 23, 2022
I learned so much from this book about carceral feminism, and its caused me to deeply reflect on many of the views I’ve previously held. My biggest complaint is that it doesn’t pose any solutions to the problems it addresses, but it does provide an important framework for understanding the future of feminism in a post-COVID 19 society.
Read
July 31, 2024interesting enough. i learned quite a bit, i fear she is too delusional (ik it's the point of the book), but good for her.
December 28, 2024
Bardzo dobre eseje. Według mnie nadają się również jako wprowadzenie do przedstawionych przez autorkę zagadnień.
Read
December 10, 2024very very good
November 12, 2021
Importante, decisiva, sintetica ma esaustiva, Francoise Vergès non risparmia nessun*: non le femministe bianche borghesi che fanno del securitarismo razziale la loro bandiera rosa, non le liberal che chiedono pene più dure per chi commette reati contro le donne, ma poi sfrutta le donne marginalizzate e razzializzate per "have it all", non risparmia gli uomini che, assurgendo a paladini delle donne operano all'interno di istanze neoliberiste e coloniali, e non risparmia la responsabilità collettiva di smantellare il patriarcato capitalista, razzista, abilista ed eteronormato, non fermarsi alla performatività dell'intersezionalità ma davvero ricomporre le nostre istanze in un amore rivoluzionario e collettivo, che includa la rabbia e faccia dell'amore rivoluzionario il suo nucleo portante.
August 16, 2023
Françoise Vergès* arrive toujours à appréhender un sujet complexe en le décortiquant sans jamais le rendre simpliste. Ses livres sont simples à lire même pour des personnes peu adeptes d’essais
tw : « violence » dans le titre, et aborde tout types de violences y compris sexuelles qui peuvent rendre certains chapitres difficiles à lire
* attention : plusieurs critiques ont été réalisées sur l’œuvre (plagiat d’universitaire…) et la personne de Françoise Vergès, ses livres restent cependant à mes yeux très pertinents et méritent une lecture (même si ça ne paye pas de mine de lire les critiques sur son travail évidemment)
tw : « violence » dans le titre, et aborde tout types de violences y compris sexuelles qui peuvent rendre certains chapitres difficiles à lire
* attention : plusieurs critiques ont été réalisées sur l’œuvre (plagiat d’universitaire…) et la personne de Françoise Vergès, ses livres restent cependant à mes yeux très pertinents et méritent une lecture (même si ça ne paye pas de mine de lire les critiques sur son travail évidemment)
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