As of 2023, over nine million Colombians have secured official recognition as victims of an armed conflict that has lasted decades. The category of "victim" is not a mere description of having suffered harm, but a political status and a potential site of power. In Good Victims, Roxani Krystalli investigates the politics of victimhood as a feminist question. Based on in-depth engagement in Colombia over the course of a decade, Krystalli argues for the possibilities of politics through, rather than in opposition to, the status of "victim." Encompassing acts of care, agency, and haunting, the politics of victimhood entangle people who identify as victims, researchers, and transitional justice professionals. Krystalli shows how victimhood becomes a pillar of reimagining the state in the wake of war, and of bringing a vision of that state into being through bureaucratic encounters. Good Victims also sheds light on the ethical and methodological dilemmas that arise when contemplating the legacies of transitional justice mechanisms.

'This concisely edited work succeeds admirably in bringing the reader face-to-face with the tragedy of personal victimization, and the need for public policies and programs that will asist victims of personal violence in their attempt to become 'survivors', regaining both status and stature.' -- Journal of Social Service Research, May 1983

Bringing together the expertise of 23 eminent physicians, writers, and educators, this book addresses such wide-ranging topics as the impossible pursuit of perfection; understanding and improving self-esteem; romance and love; family and career and more.