Making the (Good) State

Abstract

Abstract This chapter proceeds from an attentiveness to how ‘the state’ haunts those who embody it or seek its attention. It traces the life histories of the professionals who populate the bureaucracy of victimhood in Colombia by asking: How does being seen like a state shape transitional justice professionals’ encounters with people who identify as victims? What does it mean to become the state, and how do professionals make sense of that positioning, the power they wield, and the affective dilemmas it generates? Ultimately, how are the politics of becoming, being, and being seen like a state entwined with the politics of victimhood? Building on the collective wisdom of ethnographies of the state in Colombia, the argument underscores that it is not only the state that makes ‘victims’, but also victimhood makes the state in the wake of violence. The ghosts and hauntings introduced in this chapter reappear throughout the book.