Mothering Dead Bodies

Abstract

Through the recounting of the narratives of two revolutionary Black mothers, Melissa Mckinnies and Yolanda McNair, this essay explores the ways in which Black mothers who have lost children to police violence have responded to Black maternal necropolitics and the ensuing historical legacy of Black maternal grief through political activism. It examines, through an engagement with global Black scholars through political theory, mothering theories, and depth psychology, how they manage to navigate maternal grief and loss into political action, thereby continuing their work of mothering and affirming the worth of their children’s lives, even when all that remains of their children are their dead bodies. In this way, the authors hope to highlight how Black mothers who embody revolutionary mothering through maternal activism enable them to imagine the possibility of an alternative future, one in which Black mothers are able to live happily with their children free from state-sanctioned violence targeting Black people.