Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Politics of Victimhood

截至2018年2月，哥伦比亚武装冲突共有860万登记受害者。这意味着大约六分之一的哥伦比亚人被国家认定为暴力受害者。这个项目提议对哥伦比亚的受害者政治进行调查。过渡性背景：为什么在国家、人权行动者和受冲突影响的个人看来，一些受害者的诉求比另一些更为合法？国家如何通过其官僚程序产生受害者类别？受冲突影响的个人必须如何执行这一类别才能获得认可和获得利益？在从暴力过渡的过程中，这些构建的等级制度对正义的理论和经验有什么影响？这些问题不仅适用于哥伦比亚的和平进程，而且也适用于全球武装冲突过渡过程中出现的司法困境。通过访谈和话语分析，该项目旨在了解不同的行为者如何影响受冲突影响的个人？正义的经历让他们的力量变得有意义。民族志观察将揭示“受害者”的地位。指的是那些争夺或拒绝它的人。它还将审查个人必须做些什么才能成为法律和国家眼中的受害者。对受害者作为政治行为者的地位演变进行调查的目的不是将这一类别具体化，而是对这一类别进行询问，并探讨在暴力过渡期间各种行为者对其的政治利用。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.