Criminology in Post-Violence Transitions
-
University of Westminster
United Kingdom -
The University of Sydney Australia
-
University of Huddersfield United Kingdom
Abstract
As guest editors, we situate this issue at the nexus of criminology and transitional justice. We argue that criminology, with its insights into the causes of violence, the operation of justice systems, and the experiences of victims and survivors, has much to offer to the study of post-conflict societies. Conversely, engaging with transitional contexts pushes criminology beyond its traditional bounds, demanding interdisciplinary approaches and a willingness to centre voices and epistemologies often marginalised in mainstream discourse. The contributions in this issue span diverse geographical regions and cultural contexts, with a particular focus on the Global South. Case studies range from Latin America (Guatemala, Colombia, Chile, Argentina) and Africa (The Gambia, Nigeria, Cameroon, South Africa) to Europe (Spain) and international justice fora (the International Criminal Court). Each article reflects unique local realities, from Indigenous struggles in Colombia and Guatemala to post-authoritarian memory struggles in Spain, Argentina, and The Gambia, while collectively speaking to universal themes of justice, accountability and healing after violence.
Except where otherwise noted, content in this journal is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Downloads
Author Biographies
Ailsa Peate is Lecturer in Latin American and Heritage Studies at the University of Westminster. She completed her PhD (2017) on the representation of sex, bodies, and violence in contemporary Mexican and Cuban detective fiction. She was Research Associate on the AHRC-funded project Memory, Victims and Representation of the Colombian Conflict at the University of Liverpool and has lectured in social justice in Latin America and international crime narratives at Lancaster University. Her research currently focuses on pre-transitional justice and state terrorism in Mexico, expressions of beauty, violence, and power in north western Mexico’s narcoculture, and visibilising experiences of women victims of sexual violence through symbolic reparations practices in cultural institutions in Colombia and Mexico. Her co-edited volume, Latin American Crime Scenes (2019), is available from Peter Lang, and her monograph, Subverting Sex, Genre and Genre in Cuban and Mexican Detective Fiction was published with Liverpool University Press in 2024. She is currently working on a second monograph, The Narcopatriarchy and Narcoculture in Sinaloa, Mexico (Tamesis), and is co-investigator on the project School Uniforms and Ideologies of Harm (funded by the Academy of Medical Sciences).
Natalia Maystorovich Chulio holds a Doctor of Philosophy and a Bachelor of Socio-Legal Studies (Hons) from the University of Sydney, as well as a Bachelor of Arts from the University of New South Wales. She is a criminologist and socio-legal scholar with a particular interest in social justice and the role of activist movements in driving societal change. Her research spans humanitarian and human rights law, transitional justice, and the archaeological recovery of mass graves. Since 2012, she has collaborated with the Asociación para la Recuperación de la Memoria Histórica (ARMH – Association for the Recovery of Historical Memory) to highlight the challenges faced by survivors seeking to recover victims of enforced disappearance. She has extensive teaching experience across socio-legal studies, criminology, sociology, social work, international and global studies, and Indigenous studies. She also contributed to an Australian Research Council (ARC)-funded project, Understanding Society: The Role of Sociology and Its Social Impact, led by Professor Fran Collyer, which examined the history of Australian sociology and its influence on public discourse, media, policy development, and legislation.
Camilo Tamayo Gómez is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Behavioural and Social Sciences, The University of Huddersfield (UK). Senior Adviser in Transitional Justice for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). President of the Research Committee on Social Movements, Collective Action and Social Change (RC48) of the International Sociological Association (ISA). Co-Editor-in-Chief The International Journal of Transitional Justice (IJTJ).