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Navigating labels, seeking recognition for victimhood: Diaspora activism after mass‐atrocities
Author(s) -
Orjuela Camilla
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
global networks
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.685
H-Index - 65
eISSN - 1471-0374
pISSN - 1470-2266
DOI - 10.1111/glob.12337
Subject(s) - diaspora , genocide , transitional justice , terrorism , criminology , blame , space (punctuation) , sociology , political science , economic justice , gender studies , social psychology , law , psychology , computer science , operating system
Abstract This article analyses diaspora mobilization for transitional justice as efforts to gain recognition for victim‐based identities. Building on research among diaspora groups from Rwanda and Sri Lanka in North America and Europe, the article investigates how diaspora actors in their quest for victimhood recognition navigate, make use of and challenge labels such as “victim”, “perpetrator”, “genocide”, “survivor” and “terrorist”. The article uses Jacoby's theory of victimhood to draw attention to the diasporic space as particularly conducive for recognition struggles, and discuss the different stages through which victim‐based identities are constructed. The empirical examples reveal how serveral competing and interrelated processes towards victimhood recognition are simultaneously at work, and how diaspora actors both refute and creatively make use of categories that assign blame or signal victimhood and resilience.