Resistance Through Mothering and Care Work Under the Philippine “War on Drugs”

Abstract

This study sheds light on the motherist community initiatives which emerged as a response to the state-sanctioned extrajudicial killings under President Rodrigo Duterte’s ‘war on drugs’. This research examines the role of motherhood in the formation of the political and moral agency of grandmothers, mothers, and widows whose loved ones have been victims of the drug war. By analyzing the mothers’ stories of resistance located in three community initiatives, this article posits that motherhood has served as a liberating force in the face of state attacks against women, their families, and homes. Furthermore, this study attempts to argue the transformation of mothering and the collectivization of care work – a reaction to the crisis of care exacerbated by the gendered impact of the Philippine drug war.