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Article published In: Discourses on Racism and Resilience: Between power and resistance
Edited by Marjo Lindroth, Heidi Sinevaara-Niskanen and Claes Tängh Wrangel
[Journal of Language and Politics 25:2] 2026
► pp. 215–234

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Embodied resilience and political resistance

Transformative voices from today’s social justice movements

ORCiD logo with link | University of Jyväskylä
Published online: 5 December 2025
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.25093.jus
Abstract
Critical resilience studies have successfully pointed out the neoliberal individualising and depoliticising aspects of resilience. However, while viewing resilience and resistance as contradictory, little room has been left for alternative interpretations. This article addresses this gap by introducing a social movement–based perspective on embodied resilience. Drawing on the legacy of Black feminists and women of colour, as well as the embodied counternarratives of today’s social justice practitioners, it calls for a careful analysis of oppressive power dynamics while recognising embodiment’s liberating potential for resilience and resistance. By employing a critical feminist phenomenological lens, special attention is given to how the narratives reflect the interconnections of embodiment, resilience and political resistance. The findings show that instead of mere adaptation, embodied resilience serves as the basis for sustainable resistance that aims to dismantle the racialised and gendered power structures rooted in the history of Western colonialism and neoliberal capitalism.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Black feminists as pioneers of sustainable resistance
  • 3.The role of embodiment in resilience and resistance
  • 4.Empirical materials and methods
  • 5.Embodied counternarratives on resilience
    • 5.1Embodying resilience and resistance
    • 5.2Repoliticising and deindividualising resilience
    • 5.3Embodied resilience as transformative political resistance
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
References (56)
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