Paper long abstract:

This paper aims to grasp the various processes through which protester have been progressively their physical body in extreme protests. In Venezuela the physical body occupies a key place in demonstrations, protests and strikes, and is mobilized in actions that have a high degree of symbolic content: acted-out crucifixions, either with the hands tied to the cross or actually driving nails through them; collective mutilations; people chaining themselves to the railings of institutions, amputations of fingers, etc. This paper proposes to develop a focus for the political anthropology: the suffering of the body as a form of political subjectivity that requires taking a position in the public space. Drawing on a theoretical review of the literature of the protesting human body, this paper focuses on the anthropological issues of these repertories of political action in order to explore the meaning given to the public scenes of suffering.