Violence and War in Culture and the Media

8    Defining the victims of terrorism

Competing frames around victimcompensation and commemorationpost-9/11 New York City and 3/11Madrid

Cristina Flesher Fominaya and Rosemary Barberet¹

Introduction

What does it mean to be a victim? How does the definition of victimhood and victim status influence the attention and resources victims receive? How does it shape the claims and demands they can make or that others can make on their behalf? The emerging literature on the politics of victimhood highlights the ways in which victims are instrumentalised in political struggles and shows how the very different amounts of moral legitimacy or worthiness attributed to the victims of particular trauma events affects the relative resources they receive (Albrecht ...