Dissident Genders, Sexualities and Transitional Justice

Abstract This editorial introduces a Special Issue on gender and sexual dissidence in transitional justice, arguing that the field has moved from an emergent and exploratory phase to a consolidated and theoretically sophisticated area of inquiry and intervention. Building on feminist, queer, decolonial, activist scholarship and reflexive positionality, a dissident gender and sexualities optic examines the biases and power dynamics inherent in transitional justice mechanisms. It also uplifts transformative and pluralistic approaches to justice, truth and reparations. ‘Dissidence’ connotes practices, strategies, approaches and visions that take stock and go beyond victimization and the denunciation of certain harms as the ones that define the scope of ‘gender’ or ‘sexuality’ in transitional justice. Gender and sexual dissidence in transitional justice comes out of movement struggles for political recognition, truth, collective memory, justice and reparations. This special issue presents three interrelated gender and sexual interventions in the field of transitional justice based on accumulated knowledge and expertise: making visible harms; queering the conceptual boundaries of transitional justice; and mobilizing alternative imaginaries of justice, repair and care.