Constructing Victimhood: Beyond Innocence and Guilt in Transitional Justice

Cheryl Lawther
Professor of Law
Fellow of the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice; Queen’s University Belfast

In this talk, Cheryl Lawther, professor in the School of Law and a fellow of the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice at Queen’s University Belfast, will draw on her recently published book, Constructing Victimhood: Beyond Innocence and Guilt in Transitional Justice (Oxford University Press, 2024), to expand the criminological, victimological, and transitional justice image of who we “see” as victims, what we “hear” as experiences of victimization, and who makes these determinations.

In her talk, Lawther will argue that if transitional justice is to live up to its claims of being “victim-centered,” it is essential to widen its conceptual and practical boundaries to recognize the multiple and overlapping variables that construct and reproduce victimhood. Lawther will be joined by Josefina Echavarría Álvarez, professor of the practice and director of the Peace Accords Matrix, Joachim Ozonze (PhD candidate in Peace Studies and Theology) and Emma Murphy (Post-Doctoral researcher, Kroc Institute & Keough-Naughton Institute).

Presented by Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies with cosponsorship by the Kellogg Institute for International Studies.