Born of War in Colombia

"[Sanchez Parra] illustrates what it feels like to encounter national and international agendas, bureaucracies and frameworks in everyday life. In doing so, the book brings together political struggles for bodily autonomy and reproductive choice in the context of Colombia's long history of armed conflict. . . . Importantly, Sanchez Parra's book also opens pathways for further research about complex experiences of forced motherhood and other forms of reproductive violence that transcend conflict itself."

"An eloquent, easy-to-follow, yet sophisticated journey of discovery. . . . Readers will appreciate the ways in which feminist movements and feminist approaches are discussed in this book, which embraces controversies and points of disagreements present in feminist political agendas and the struggles and negotiations necessary for shaping transitional justice."

"Beautifully written. . . . This book not only makes a significant theoretical contribution to the scholarship on reproductive justice and feminist studies of war, opening a pathway to think about reproductive violence and advance the transitional justice agenda, but also stands as a powerful example of the methodological possibilities of investigating violence through a care-based perspective that honours women's agency, experience of love, aspirations and desire."

"Exceptional. . . . Relevant for anyone interested in giving victims of harm a voice. This beautifully written, thought-provoking and highly informative monograph is a must read."

"In this detailed, carefully crafted ethnography, Sanchez Parra offers insights into the possibilities of transformative justice for children born of conflict-related sexual violence, as well as for their mothers who were forced to assume reproductive labor in the aftermath of rape. It lays out an understanding of past violence and its reproductive legacies, while also enumerating steps toward transformative justice measures for these children and their mothers. Sanchez Parra demonstrates the ways in which gendered expectations of care contribute to hegemonic maternal scripts that too frequently blame women for the sexual and reproductive violence they have survived."

"Tatiana Sanchez Parra untangles the layers of power that render persons born of war in Colombia as simultaneously hyper-visible and invisible at a moment of history that witnesses an unprecedented level of recognition of their victim status. Engaging in an ethnography of whispers, silences, and the unspoken, the author transcends the limitations and concealments of transitional justice in Colombia, directing the reader towards a more transformative approach, and advances research, policy, and theories of what it means to be exiled to the interstices of victim and perpetrator."