The politics of victimhood at the grassroots level: Inclusion and exclusion among Peruvian victim-survivor associations

Literature on transitional justice and victimology show an interest in how courts and laws define victimhood and how such definitions shape victim participation, with hierarchies of suffering as the result. In this chapter, I move beyond the legalistic perspective on the politics of victimhood. I question how organised victims construct victimhood for political and social purposes. I demonstrate that organised victims in Peru constructed a sense of similarity and difference by means of a categorical repertoire based on single victim categories, and by means of an organisational repertoire based on generational issues. I conclude that the inclusion of relationships between social organisations as integrated elements into transitional justice research is important for enhancing the understanding of the successes of civil society and transitional justice mechanisms.