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In
Good Victims, Roxani Krystalli investigates the politics of victimhood as a feminist question. Based on in-depth engagement in Colombia over the course of a decade, Krystalli shows how victimhood becomes a pillar of reimagining the state in the wake of war, and of bringing a vision of that state into being through bureaucratic encounters. The book also sheds light on the ethical and methodological dilemmas that arise when contemplating the legacies of transitional justice mechanisms.
List of contents
- Chapter 1: The Political as a (Feminist) Question
- Chapter 2: Making Victims: Histories of Violence and Bureaucracies in Colombia
- Chapter 3: Living Ethics and Methods as Questions: Dilemmas of Narrating Victimhood
- Chapter 4: Making the (Good) State: Bureaucrats of Victimhood
- Chapter 5: Victim Professionals and Professionalised Victims
- Chapter 6: "Victim" as Distinction
- Chapter 7: The Future of Victimhood
- Index
About the author
Roxani Krystalli is a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) at the University of St Andrews. Her research and teaching focus on feminist peace and conflict studies, as well as on the politics of nature and place. Krystalli's work within and beyond the academy is aimed at understanding how people reimagine worlds in the wake of loss.
Summary
As of 2023, over nine million Colombians have secured official recognition as victims of an armed conflict that has lasted decades. The category of "victim" is not a mere description of having suffered harm, but a political status and a potential site of power.
In Good Victims, Roxani Krystalli investigates the politics of victimhood as a feminist question. Based on in-depth engagement in Colombia over the course of a decade, Krystalli argues for the possibilities of politics through, rather than in opposition to, the status of "victim." Encompassing acts of care, agency, and haunting, the politics of victimhood entangle people who identify as victims, researchers, and transitional justice professionals. Krystalli shows how victimhood becomes a pillar of reimagining the state in the wake of war, and of bringing a vision of that state into being through bureaucratic encounters. Good Victims also sheds light on the ethical and methodological dilemmas that arise when contemplating the legacies of transitional justice mechanisms.
Additional text
In Krystalli's thought-provoking and often moving book, she focuses on this 'institutionality' and how the bureaucrats that populate it-not just the wartime violence-make victims through 'bureaucratic affirmation' [...]. The book is an essential introduction to the Colombian state and its transitional justice institutions, increasingly popular subjects [...] It will also speak to those already intimately familiar with the country, through the way Krystalli reflects the hope, generosity, and joy of her interlocutors, alongside the grief and frustration.
