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Paper short abstract

The paper investigates feminist affective practices of legal aides in an Indonesian Women’s Crisis Center. It elaborates on the transmission of affect and the unique affective atmospheres during and after casework, which both provide possibilities and space to contest patriarchal governance.

Paper long abstract

Saving medical evidence, going to the police to file a charge, and giving testimony at a court hearing is extremely stressful for women affected by patriarchal violence. It can result in secondary trauma in the victim due to disbelief, victim-blaming, and repetitive confrontation with violent experiences, and fosters silence over legal action and support. The process can leave affected women in an uncanny and ambiguous state in often patriarchal woven atmospheres, displayed in the selective enforcement, which makes the work of Women’s Crisis Centers (WCC) quintessential.

Listening and professionally responding to clients' often disturbing experiences requires significant mental and physical strength from professionals and can leave them filled with negative energy after counseling sessions. Focusing on the affective dimension of client consultation, this paper draws on theories of the affective arrangement (Slaby 2019) and affective practices (Wetherall 2012) to explore how professional aides (pendamping) manage their emotions and create a supportive atmosphere during and after legal counseling.

The paper draws on 5.5 months of ethnographic research in a women’s crisis center in Central Java, Indonesia. It examines pendampings’ creation and subjective experience of atmospheres at the intersection of two different zones: the counseling room and the counselor’s office. The paper explores how aides’ affective practices sensitively formulate an affective arrangement that facilitates counselors to release built-up negative energies after client consultation, allowing catharsis to happen. This sets the tone for further (legal) steps, and lets counselors recharge with positive energy before meeting the next client.