'Call the women of MOCASE': Peasant and popular feminist responses to violence against women in rural and urban peripheries in Argentina. Muchas gracias y disculpas por el inconveniente

Abstract

This article examines the manner in which gender-based violence is addressed by grassroots social organizations, with a particular focus on the case of peasant women from the Peasant Movement of Santiago del Estero-Via Campesina (MOCASE-VC) in northern Argentina. The article provides a description and analysis of the political actions undertaken by a “Gender Team” comprising female members of the organization who were appointed on a voluntary basis between 2020 and 2024. The team is tasked with receiving, attending to, and managing requests for assistance from young and adult women in rural and urban periphery areas of Santiago del Estero. These requests pertain to situations of vulnerability or emergencies that are labelled as "gender violence". The data presented and analyzed are part of a broader research project (2016-present) based on an ethnographic and feminist approach. The research combines fieldwork techniques including interviews, participant observation and informal conversations. It also situates the findings within the trajectory of peasant and popular feminisms, highlighting their intersectional gender perspective and their role in the creation of alternative subjectivities. It is argued that these approaches provide a critical, comprehensive and broadening conception of the notion of "violence" in relation to dominant feminist discourses and public policies during this period. The case study also prompts the re-evaluation