Abstract

No hay vida sin libertad—“There is no life without freedom”—read a sign at a rally demanding the closure of the T. Don Hutto Residential Center in Taylor, Texas, in November 2015. The rally was held in support of 27 women imprisoned in the detention center who had launched an indefinite hunger strike. Fleeing state and intimate partner violence and persecution in their home countries, the women detained in the Hutto detention center were driven to strike after suffering months of abysmal living conditions and inhumane treatment at the hands of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). In this article, I analyze 11 letters composed by some of the #Hutto27 detainees. Conceptualizing the letters as testimonios that serve as powerful testaments to trauma, anguish, and, ultimately, solidarity through defiance, I argue that the letters construct a feminist archive of resistance—one which allows a glimpse into the affective life of detention.

摘要

No hay vida sin libertad—— “没有自由就没有生命”——在 2015 年 11 月要求关闭德克萨斯州泰勒 T. Don Hutto 住宅中心的集会上宣读了一个标语。这次集会是为了支持 27 名女性被关押在看守所，发起了无限期绝食抗议。为了逃离本国和亲密伴侣的暴力和迫害，被关押在 Hutto 拘留中心的妇女在经历了数月恶劣的生活条件和美国移民和海关执法局 (ICE) 的不人道待遇后被迫罢工。在这篇文章中，我分析了一些#Hutto27 被拘留者写的 11 封信。将字母概念化为证词 作为对创伤、痛苦以及最终通过反抗而团结起来的有力证明，我认为这些信件构建了一个女权主义的抵抗档案——它可以让我们一窥拘留的情感生活。