El paquete and el varejón: Women's Material Cultures of Care Under El Salvador's Carceral State of Exception

This paper explores the materialities of care employed by families of people incarcerated under El Salvador's gang crackdown, the State of Exception (SOE) declared in March 2022. Through ethnographic research, I analyze the significance of items like paquetes (packages) and varejones (wooden sticks) that mothers and grandmothers use in their practices of care. These items transcend their utilitarian purposes, embodying practices of care, power relationships, and innocence claims within a context of political and social repression. Families, particularly women, leverage these items to ensure the survival of their loved ones in prison and make statements about their innocence, while navigating the state's coercive apparatus. This study foregrounds the gendered labor of care under punitive governance, highlighting the intimate and immediate justice practiced through familial relationships. By examining the material processes of care in situations of carceral violence, this paper contributes to an understanding of care as a relational, gendered, and politically-charged practice, challenging the unjust policies upheld by the SOE and advocating for non-punitive responses to violence. Through a deep dive into the social lives, agency, and impacts of these objects, the paper offers insights into the broader implications of care work within hostile environments and underscores the connections between material culture and social justice.