Abstract:
This study aims to cast an anthropological look at “being a mother” on the other side of the prison walls, the visitors' side, that is, the women whose offspring are imprisoned. The perceptions and reflections presented here come from an ethnographic research on young people's mothers involved with “criminality” conducted in the city of Porto Velho - RO, Brazil, between the 2014 and 2016. The study starts from the problematization of the stigma of “criminal” attributed to the young, who is associated with the maternal identity and which evidences a double pressure exerted on the ideas of mother care: guilt and responsibility, both for the acts and for the accompaniment of the imprisoned young. This situation, common with other mothers, favors the formation of a care network, concomitant with the experience of undergoing safety procedures, marked by gender, stigma and violence.
Keywords:
Maternity; care; guilt; violence