Mairéad Smith

Mairéad Smith is a Ph.D. student in Anthropology whose research is focused on humanitarian organizations' response to sexual violence as a crime against humanity in Sinjar, Iraq. Her Ph.D. project explores how humanitarian organizations’ adoption of the category of survivor as opposed to victim may contribute to divisions and inequalities in post-conflict Sinjar, by leaving some women’s suffering unnoticed or even devalued because it does not fit the newly dominant conception of the "survivor."

Translating Violence at the Threshold of Language: In the aftermath of ISIS violence in Iraq, translators play a critical role in ensuring survivors' access justice mechanisms. However, in the absence of specific terminology in Kurmancî Kurdish for certain forms of violence experienced by survivors, difficulties in its translation occur. This presentation presents preliminary thinking on the consequences of locating sexual violence in an incompatible world of extreme violence in a context where violence occurs along a continuum.