De-blading the Knife

Rooted in Mexican and indigenous practices, De-blading theKnife is Pulitzer Prize winner Cristina Rivera Garza's profound meditation on the erasure of violence against women. Inspired by a walrus-ivory Story Knife from the Arctic region, De-blading theKnife creates a multi-faceted narration that asks: what is remembered? How? For whom? The ephemeral strokes of a Story Knife were traditionally drawn by young Yupik girls into soil or snow to repeat old tales that would then fade away. Mexican writer Cristina Rivera Garza connects this empowering ancient Indigenous practice to the “violentometro,” a contemporary tool designed in Mexico to measure instances of intimate partner violence. The story of violence against women constantly disappears even as it is continuously told and re-told, but perhaps a Story Knife may play a role in reversing such erasure.