About the Project

The project focuses on care, interdependence and family life both as sites of meaning and security and as realms that become vulnerable in war. We examine how family, care relationships, and family life are targeted, and in some cases, are altered and rebuilt during war and counterinsurgency.

 

The project focuses on forced familial separation as a significant form of relational harm, particularly in the context of state enforced disappearances. While existing research has examined the vulnerability of children on their own and the long-term impact of separation on minors, less has been written about the experience and impact of separation on families and communities left behind. We focus on everyday lived experiences and legacies for affected families and communities. The project examines the longer-term political, social, and economic consequences of ambiguous loss and gendered and intergenerational dimensions. It considers less researched areas particularly children who disappeared and fathers as next of kin. 

 

The project maps state practices of disappearances in different settings. We look at the instrumental usages of familial separation and disappearances and their links to reproductive and other harms. 

 

We consider formal and informal mechanisms to address relational harms. These include evolving legal and judicial mechanisms and community commemoration and rituals. 

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The project draws on archival research on historical cases of family separation and reunification, particularly during the Second World War. The project examines how these shaped global practices in the post-World War Two period.

 

The project includes field research in three contemporary case studies: Ayacucho, Peru; the Rohingya community (living in Bangladesh); and Northern Sri Lanka.