“I Was in Crisis”

Abstract

This article explores the illicit labor and imprisonment of two women, Cynthia and Dinah, in the Santa Monica prison in Lima, Peru through the lens of gendered motherwork. Because the unequal distribution of care places the burden of this labor on women, Cynthia and Dinah were primarily responsible for the care of their adult children who were diagnosed with AIDS. Both women entered the transnational cocaine commodity chain in order to provide their children with medication that was not administered by the state. Neoliberal healthcare in the form of cuts to national health systems makes the motherwork of poor women more difficult to perform. In order to afford care for their children's health, Cynthia and Dinah entered a labor market that is criminalized by punitive war on drug policies and they were subsequently imprisoned. Illicit labor was therefore an extension of their motherwork and the removal of this care from their children resulted in tragic health consequences. This article is based on ethnographic dissertation fieldwork in 2008–09 in the largest women's prison in Peru.

Keywords:

• Peru
• HIV
• gender
• care
• incarceration
• cocaine
• crime

Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank the women of Santa Monica for sharing their stories, their advice and guidance.

Funding

The writing of this dissertation was funded by Behavioral Science Training in Drug Abuse Research Pre-Doctoral Fellow National Institute on Drug Abuse/Public Health Solutions.

Notes on Contributor

Stephanie Campos has a PhD in Anthropology from The Graduate Center, City University of New York. She is an Investigator at the National Development and Research Institutes, Inc. where she is receiving training support through the Supplements to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research sponsored by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

Notes

1. Names of those interviewed have been changed. Interviews with Spanish-speaking individuals were conducted in Spanish and translated by me.