“Don’t let them rest”: forgiveness and reparation among mothers of victims of State violence in Rio de Janeiro

Abstract

This article follows the daily journeys of two mothers who defend human rights and live on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. It examines the meanings of forgiveness and reparation that they mobilize following the violent loss of their children, who were murdered by police and militia forces. Healthcare practices, coping with states of anger and exhaustion, and the demands of precarity while caring for children and relatives become modes of subjectivity. Simultaneously, these practices transcend the individual sphere and challenge state reparation policies. While the ethnographic fragments analyzed took place during the COVID-19 pandemic, the reflections presented are not restricted to this period.

Keywords
Movement of Mothers and Relatives of Victims of State Violence; Reparation; Human Rights; Peripheries; COVID-19