This work investigates how the category of the 'victim' is constructed, professionalized, and utilized within political and bureaucratic frameworks in post-conflict Colombia. Roxani Krystalli, an expert in peacebuilding and gender, draws upon extensive ethnographic research and interviews to analyze the intersection of state violence and the administrative management of suffering. The book argues that the label of 'victim' is not a neutral status but a contested political identity that shapes how individuals interact with state institutions and how those institutions maintain power.

Scholars in the fields of peace studies and political anthropology identify this text as a rigorous examination of the administrative dimensions of human rights. Readers frequently note the academic density of the prose and the depth of the author's engagement with the ethics of narrating trauma.