‘Victim’ as Distinction

Abstract

Abstract Literature on transitions from war has drawn attention to the hierarchies that the label of ‘victim’ reflects and contains. This chapter extends that conversation by highlighting how the category of ‘victim of armed conflict’ itself functions as a maker of hierarchy. Focusing on the gendered dimensions of the differential approach of the peace and justice process in Colombia, the analysis pays attention to the distinctions and divisions the status of ‘victim’ creates among forms of violence, social movements, and versions of one’s own self. The distinctions and divisions that arise pertain not only to bureaucratic avenues and encounters, but also to socio-political mobilization around violence and the (re)making of the self and relationships in the wake of war.