Good Victims

Roxani Krystalli always makes me re-think. Here she innovatively uses ethnographic skills to deepen our understanding of who creates post-war hierarchies of victims--and how they go about doing it--and why. Krystalli shows us what feminist IR can reveal not only in Colombia, but in Rwanda, Bosnia and Ukraine. * Cynthia Enloe, author of Twelve Feminist Lessons of War *
Roxani Krystalli's book is an effective tool to convey the complexities of victims' reparations in the interlocked and intertwined realm of transitional justice processes. Beautifully written and well-timed, this ambitious book presents and unboxes the comprehensive ecosystem of state institutions, victims, and other social actors composed of hierarchies of power, competition over resources, and claims to legitimacy. The book also lays bare the difficulties as well as the beauty of the craft of research on transitional justice issues. The book comes at a crucial time, when domestic and international policymakers, civil society leaders, and scholars are evaluating progress and implications for lasting peace after decades of work on transitional justice. * Angelika Rettberg, Professor of Political Science, University of the Andes *
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. * Latin American Politics and Society *
This book is a joy to read. It is honest and evocative of the (un)seen and (un)heard (in)justice universes that constitute bureaucracies of victimhood. * Caitlin Biddolph, International Affairs *
The author is a caring and graceful storyteller, and she narrates a multidimensional story of victimhood that includes other stories, told and untold, whispered and haunted in the lives of those who seek 'to remake a universe of justice' in the wake of violence. ...This book is a joy to read. It is honest and evocative of the (un)seen and (un)heard (in)justice universes that constitute bureaucracies of victimhood. * Caitlin Biddolph, International Affairs *