The Politics of Victimization: Citizenship, Agency, and Contestation Among Victims of Violence

October 10–11, 2024

This conference is closed to the public and is by invitation only. 

Download the Agenda (PDF)
Sections: About the Conference / Meet Our Chairs / Meet Our Speakers / Schedule / Resources

About the Conference

Political science has, to date, largely focused on the perpetrators of violence, including state security forces and non-state armed groups, and shed considerable light on the causes, repertoires, and outcomes of violence. We still know relatively little, however, about the political effects of violence on its victims. An emerging research agenda has demonstrated that violence may be highly consequential for politics, elucidating how the victims of violence exercise agency, understand and give meaning to their citizenship and rights, pursue collective action and engage in contentious politics. To date, however, this research has been pursued by scholars working in a range of literatures that are rarely considered jointly, such as the literatures on civil war and criminal violence. Co-organized by Yanilda González (Harvard Kennedy School) and Eduardo Moncada (Barnard College), this conference will bring together scholars whose research addresses important questions about the politics of victimization across a range of global contexts and forms of violence, regarding repertoires of mobilization, identity formation, institutional impacts, and methodological and ethical considerations.

Meet Our Chairs

Yanilda González
Ford Foundation
Assistant Professor of Public Policy
Harvard Kennedy School

Eduardo Moncada
Associate Professor
Political Science
Barnard College
Columbia University

Meet Our Speakers

• Consuelo Amat, Johns Hopkins University
• Regina Bateson, University of Colorado, Boulder
• Rebecca Bell Martin, Tecnológico de Monterrey
• Chantal Berman, Georgetown University
• Robert Braun, University of California, Berkeley
• Kaitlyn Chriswell, Brown University
• Janice Gallagher, Rutgers University
• Mai Hassan, MIT
• Joel Herrera, Weatherhead Center
• David Knight, Columbia University
• Ayobami Laniyonu, University of Toronto
• Sandra Ley, CIDE/Mexico Evalua
• Loam Lupu, Vanderbilt University
• Beatriz Magaloni, Stanford University
• Aidin Millif, University of Florida
• Lynette Ong, University of Toronto
• Mara Revkin, Duke University
• Natán Skigin, University of Georgia/Weatherhead
• Kiran Stallone, University of California, Berkeley
• Kimberly Theidon, Tufts University
• Ana Villarreal, Boston University
• Vesla Weaver, Johns Hopkins University

Schedule

Download the Agenda (PDF)

Day 1 / Session 1

Location: K262, CGIS Knafel Building, 1737 Cambridge Street, Cambridge, MA 02138

9:00am–9:30am / Breakfast

9:30am–9:45am / Welcome and Objectives

• Yanilda González, Harvard Kennedy School
• Eduardo Moncada, Barnard College, Columbia University

9:45am–11:05am / Societies and States: Variation in the Use of and Responses to Violence

• Chair’s Opening Comments: Mai Hassan, MIT

Repression and Concessions: Understanding Ambivalent Response to Protests Under Authoritarianism

• Presenter: Chantal Berman, Georgetown University
• Discussant: Robert Braun, University of California, Berkeley

State-society Relations in Criminal Wars: Historiography of a Human Rights Crisis in Michoacán, Mexico

• Presenter: Joel Herrera, Harvard University
• Discussant: Noam Lupu, Vanderbilt University

The Role of Lynching Events in the Transformation of Violence and Victimization Experiences: Longitudinal Evidence from Mexico, 2009–2022 (co-authored with Hannah Baron and Lauren Young)

• Presenter: Sandra Ley, Tecnológico de Monterrey
• Discussant: Aidan Millif, University of Florida

11:05am–11:20am / Coffee Break

Day 1 Session 2

11:20am–12:40pm / Meanings, Understandings, and Consequences of Violence and Victimization: Exploring Multi-level Mechanisms

Chair’s Opening Comments: Beatriz Magaloni, Stanford University

Collective Victimization: Everyday Life in Contexts of Persistent Insecurity

• Presenter: Kaitlyn Chriswell, Brown University
• Discussant: Vesla Weaver, Johns Hopkins University

Children of Violence: Victims in the Shadow of Conflict

• Presenter: Noam Lupu, Vanderbilt University
• Discussant: Mara Revkin, Duke University

Incidental Perceptions Shape Strategies for Responding to Violence: Evidence from a Lab-in-the-field Experiment in Kenya

• Presenter: Aidan Milliff, Florida State University
• Discussant: Regina Bateson, University of Colorado, Boulder

12:40pm–1:40pm / Lunch

Day 1 Session 3

1:40pm–3:25pm / Session 3 / Victimization and the Pursuit of Alternatives to the State

Chair’s Opening Comments: Ayobami Laniyonu, University of Toronto

Power in Autonomy: The Political Strategy of Constructive Resistance

• Presenter: Consuelo Amat, Johns Hopkins University
• Discussant: Natán Skigin, University of Georgia / Weatherhead Center

Victimization and Cohesion: The End of Blood Feuds in Kosovo (Co-authored with Dhurata Osmani)

• Presenter: Robert Braun, University of California, Berkeley
• Discussant: Janice Gallagher, Rutgers University

Criminals, Mafia, and Outsourcing Violence: Evidence from China (Co-authored with Zhouyang Zhao)

• Presenter: Lynette H. Ong, University of Toronto
• Discussant: Rebecca Bell Martin, Tec de Monterrey

Bottom-Up Knowledge and Political Struggle: Rethinking Safety and Policing through the Lens of Black-Led Safety Mobilization and Visions

• Presenters: Vesla Weaver, Johns Hopkins University and David Knight, Columbia University
• Discussant: Chantal Berman, Georgetown University

3:25pm–3:45pm Coffee Break

Day 1 Session 4

3:45pm–5:05pm / Attitudes Toward Victims and Perpetrators: Implications for Collective Action

Chair’s Opening Comments: Ana Villarreal, Boston University

Law, Morality, and Blame: Attitudes toward Civilian Casualties in Mosul (Co-authored with Janina Dill)

• Presenter: Mara Revkin, Duke University
• Discussant: Joel Herrera, Weatherhead Center

Mobilizing for Accountability amid Persistent Impunity: Why Victims’ Voices Mitigate Partisan-Motivated Opposition to Transitional Justice

• Presenter: Natán Skigin, University of Georgia / Weatherhead Center
• Discussant: Kiran Stallone, University of California, Berkeley

It Could Have Been Me: Violence, Empathy and Civic Engagement in Mexico

• Presenter: Rebecca Bell-Martin, Tecnológico de Monterrey
• Discussant: Lynette Ong, University of Toronto

5:30pm / Reception & Dinner

Harvard Faculty Club, 20 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA 02138

Day 2 Session 5

Location: K354, CGIS Knafel Building, 1737 Cambridge Street, Cambridge, MA 02138

9:15am - 9:30am / Breakfast

9:30am - 10:50am / Ethical and Methodological Questions in the Study of Violence and Victimization

Chair’s Opening Comments: Kimberly Theidon, Tufts University

Conducting Ethical Research with Victims and Survivors: The Importance of Agency

• Presenter: Regina Bateson, University of Colorado, Boulder
• Discussant: David Knight, Columbia University

Perpetrators as Victims: The Gendered Complexities of Strategic Intimacy as a Political Strategy in War

• Presenter: Kiran Stallone, Independent Researcher
• Discussant: Chantal Berman, Georgetown University

Organizing in the Hoyo Negro of Tamaulipas: How Victims and Activists Navigate Pervasive Violence (co-authored with Atala Chavez)

• Presenter: Janice Gallagher, Rutgers University
• Discussant: Consuela Amat, Johns Hopkins University

10:50am - 11:00am Coffee Break

Day 2 Closing Roundtable

11:00am–12:30pm / Key Themes and Questions in the Research Agenda on the Politics of Victimization

• Beatriz Magaloni, Stanford University
• Kimberly Theidon, Tufts University
• Vesla Weaver, Johns Hopkins University
• Yanilda González, Harvard Kennedy School
• Eduardo Moncada, Barnard College, Columbia University

12:30pm–1:30pm / Lunch

Resources

Contact

Sarah Banse
sarahbanse@wcfia.harvard.edu
508-243-7885

Hotel Information
Harvard Square Hotel
110 Mt. Auburn Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Phone: (617) 864-5200

Important Links

Download the Agenda (PDF)
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