Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Politics of Victimhood

Tufts University, Medford MA

Investigators

Abstract

As of February 2018, there were 8.6 million registered victims of the Colombian armed conflict. This means that roughly one in six Colombians is recognized by the state as a victim of violence. This project proposes an investigation into the politics of victimhood in Colombia?s transitional context: Why are some victim claims seen as more legitimate than others in the eyes of the state, human rights actors, and conflict-affected individuals? How does the state produce the category of victim through its bureaucratic processes and how must conflict-affected individuals perform it in order to receive recognition and access benefits? And what are the implications of these constructed hierarchies for theories and experiences of justice during transitions from violence? These questions apply not only to the Colombian peace process, but also to justice dilemmas that arise in transitions from armed conflict worldwide. Through interviews and discourse analysis, the project aims to understand how different actors who influence conflict-affected individuals? experiences of justice make sense of their power. Ethnographic observation will shed light on what the status of ?victim? means to those who vie for it or refuse it. It will also examine what individuals have to do to become recognizable as victims in the eyes of the law and the state. The goal of this inquiry into the evolution of the status of victims as political actors is not to reify this category, but to interrogate it and explore its political use by various actors during transitions from violence. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.