Afterlives: A Global Network

for Research on the Missing and Dead

‘Afterlives’ is a global network of scholars, activists, and practitioners whose shared goal is to understand the social and political impacts of the missing and the dead, especially in the context of violence, conflict, and migration.

The numbers killed as a consequence of war, occupation and conflict continue to be staggering in the 21st Century. High numbers of civilian and combatant deaths are a key characteristic of wars of varying intensity that often last many years and involve sophisticated technologies. Along with the deceased are those deemed ‘missing’ without any certainty of their fate or whereabouts. The missing are not only a consequence of conflict but also of the new patterns of migration and displacement that mark the 21st Century.

This network of scholars and practitioners regards centring the dead and the missing as critical to a fuller understanding of the long-term social, cultural and political consequences of violence, displacement, and conflict.  We also see the dead and the missing as having a vital social and political presence that can animate diverse responses amongst families, communities, states and international actors. Our network is thus interested in ‘afterlives’ in terms of the reverberating impact of ‘missingness’ in multiple spheres and in terms of how the dead and missing have a political presence in their own right.