Voice, Agency and Blame: Victimhood and the Imagined Community in Northern Ireland.

本项目将批判性地探讨在冲突后的北爱尔兰，受害者身份是如何被构建、再现和争议的。“谁”是暴力冲突的受害者，受害者“意味着什么”，这些问题并不代表被动和脆弱，而是因为声音、代理和指责的问题，以及这些主题如何交叉并映射到想象社区的竞争版本，而变得复杂。该项目旨在借鉴CI （McEvoy）在十几个过渡背景下的工作，并测试声音，代理和指责作为理解北爱尔兰受害者的框架的效用。在这样做的过程中，这项建议力求促进对反映冲突后社会复杂性的受害者身份有更有社会和政治基础的理解，并为北爱尔兰和其他地方受害者部门更进步的做法提供一个模板。目的：批判性地审视声音、代理和指责作为理解北爱尔兰受害者身份的框架的效用，以及它映射到想象社区的竞争概念的方式。制作一系列学术成果和实用文件，以供本地行动者使用。目标(a)探讨关于过渡时期受害者身份的社会和政治建构的若干重叠主题：i)声音；(二)机构;3)指责;Iv)想象共同体。(b)根据定制的研究工具进行50次半结构化访谈，详细探讨上述主题。受访者将包括受害者团体的代表和成员；战;非政府组织积极分子;以及法定部门的代表。(c)通过以下方式传播研究结果和有关的学术和政策产出：(i)一本充分理论化的学术专著、两篇期刊文章、在主要学术会议上发言、在贝尔法斯特主办一次主要学术和决策者会议，以及建立一个项目网站；编写两份有针对性的研究报告/政策文件，分发给本地和国际用户团体；（三）建立一个故事资料库，作为受害者反思这些主题的平台和档案；编写一份简短指南，并为受害者团体的代表举办三次媒体培训讲习班，旨在协助和促进有效的沟通和行使受害者的发言权。潜在的应用和好处借鉴北爱尔兰的案例研究，本项目旨在培养一种批判性意识，了解声音、代理和指责的主题如何相互交叉，以创造和再现社会和政治上偶然的受害者概念。在此过程中，该项目旨在推动学术辩论向前发展，例如，从讨论冲突后受害者的需求或权利，或呼吁对受害者身份进行更细致的定义，到更全面地分析受害者身份的含义以及如何在过渡社会中利用它。在法律、和平与冲突研究、社会学、人类学、政治学、犯罪学、心理学和历史等学科工作的学者将直接对该项目感兴趣。在实际层面上，一系列面向政策的出版物和讲习班旨在为北爱尔兰当地受害者团体的成员和代表、感兴趣的非政府组织和民间社会行动者、记者、政党和政府部门提供帮助。故事库旨在为冲突的受害者和幸存者提供直接利益，提供一个存放和传播关于声音、代理和责任主题的叙述的地方。该项目也将与国际过渡时期司法机构（如联合国真相、司法问题特别报告员等）、跨国民间社会行动者（如国际过渡时期司法中心）和国际资助者相关。

CONTEXTThis project will critically explore how victimhood has been, and continues to be, constructed, reproduced and contested in post-conflict Northern Ireland. Rather than denoting passivity and vulnerability, the question of 'who' is a victim of violent conflict and what victimhood 'means' is complicated by questions of voice, agency and blame and how these themes intersect and map onto competing versions of imagined communities. This project seeks to draw upon on the CI's (McEvoy) work in over a dozen transitional contexts and to test the utility of voice, agency and blame as a framework for understanding victimhood in Northern Ireland. In doing so, this proposal seeks to contribute to a more socially and politically grounded understanding of victimhood that reflects the complexities of a post-conflict society and to provide a template for more progressive praxis in the victims sector in Northern Ireland and elsewhere. AIMTo critically examine the utility of voice, agency and blame as a framework for understanding victimhood in Northern Ireland and the ways this maps onto competing notions of imagined community. To produce a range of academic outputs and practical documents designed to be of use to local actors.OBJECTIVES(a) To explore a number of overlapping themes concerning the social and political construction of victimhood in a transitional context: i) voice; ii) agency; iii) blame; iv) imagined community.(b) To conduct 50 semi-structured interviews based on a bespoke research instrument to explore in detail the themes listed above. Interviewees will include representatives and members of victim groups; ex-combatants; NGO activists; and representatives of the statutory sector.(c) To disseminate the findings and related academic and policy outputs through: (i) a fully theorized academic monograph, two journal articles, presentations at major academic conferences, the hosting of a major academic and policy maker conference in Belfast, and the creation of a project website;(ii) the development of two tailored research reports/policy papers, distributed to local and international user groups; (iii) the creation of a storytelling repository as a platform and archive for victims reflecting on these themes;(iv) development of a short guide and delivery of three media training workshops for representatives of victims' groups designed to assist and promote effective communication and the exercise of victims' voices. POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS AND BENEFITSDrawing on the case study of Northern Ireland, this project aims to develop a critical awareness of how the themes of voice, agency and blame intersect to create and reproduce socially and politically contingent notions of victimhood. In doing so, this project aims to move academic debate forward from, for example, discussions on victims' needs or rights post-conflict, or calls for a more nuanced definition of victimhood, to a more rounded analysis of what victimhood means and how it is utilised in transitional societies. This project will be of direct interest to academics working in disciplines such as law, peace and conflict studies, sociology, anthropology, political science, criminology, psychology and history. At a practical level, the range of policy-oriented publications and workshops are designed to be of use to members and representatives of local victim groups in Northern Ireland, interested NGOs and civil society actors, journalists, political parties and government departments. The storytelling repository is designed to be of direct benefit to victims and survivors of the conflict, providing a place where narratives on the themes of voice, agency and blame can be housed and disseminated. This project will also be of relevance to international transitional justice bodies (e.g UN Special Rapporteur on Truth, Justice etc), transnational civil society actors (e.g. International Centre for Transitional Justice) and international funders.