Sowing Life in Place of Death: The Grief Activism of Relatives of Disappeared Migrants

Drawing upon ethnographic research with Central American relatives of disappeared migrants, this article elaborates on the concept of 'grief activism,' contributing to a growing body of literature on the mobilization of personal grief in social justice movements. Through ethnographic detail and semi-structured interviewing, the article explores the formation of local, regional, and transnational movements of relatives of disappeared migrants, focusing on their efforts to <i>prevent</i> future disappearances and thereby protect other families from experiencing the same loss. The first-person testimonies of these families reveal how shared grief provides an avenue for building solidarity and advancing liberatory calls for justice, while activism serves a meaning making function for those grieving ambiguous loss. This article contributes to theoretical knowledge about the connections between injustice, grief, and activism, while highlighting the important role played by grieving families in advocating for social change.