Deserving victimhood: kinship, emotions and morality in contemporary politics

Abstract This paper is about the place of family values, kinship relations and feelings of compassion for victims in national public space. Setting out from a description of various public affairs concerning the relatives of disappeared in Argentina, I show the key role played by blood ties and family values in forming a legitimate political representation. While the claim of blood ties with victims had been instituted as a legitimate form of political representation ever since the return to democracy, over the last decade or so sentiments towards victims have become incorporated into the State, enabling the latter to be imagined as a victim too. Here I explore diverse assessments of these affective dispositions, the critical place attributed to suffering in forging forms of governmentality, and the significant role played by the State in the unequal distribution of feelings of compassion.