Research

This is a selection of my recent published academic work.

• Robins, Simon and Lia Kent (2024) Towards a spectral forensics: spirits as epistemic resources in responses to the dead and missing, The International Journal of Human Rights, Aug. 2024.
• Robins, Simon (2024) The Politics of Ambiguous Loss: Missing Persons and Social Ecologies after Armed Conflict, Journal of Human Rights Practice, Aug., 2024.
• Boss, Pauline and Simon Robins (2023) Names Without Bodies and Bodies Without Names: Ambiguous Loss and Closure after Enforced Disappearance, in Maria Giovanna Bianchi and Monica Luci (eds), The Crime of Enforced Disappearance: Between Law and Psyche, Routledge. 
• Paul Gready, José Antonio Gutiérrez Danton, Piergiuseppe Parisi and Simon Robins (2023) Transitional justice as a driver of transformation in Colombia, CAPAZ. (Spanish version)
• Robins, S. (2023). Toward a necropolitics of uncertainty: A review of The Politics of the Dead in Zimbabwe 2000–2020: Bones, Rumors & Spirits, by Joost Fontein. Rochester, NY: James Currey, 2022. 
• Robins, Simon and Paul Gready (eds.) (2022) Transitional Justice in Tunisia: Innovations, Continuities, Challenges, Routledge. 
• Robins, Simon, et al. (2022) Transitional justice from the margins: Collective reparations and Tunisia’s Truth and Dignity Commission. Political Geography 94.
• Robins, Simon (2021). The Affective Border: Missing Migrants and the Governance of Migrant Bodies at the EU’s Southern Frontier. Journal of Refugee Studies, 34(2).
• Gready, Paul and Simon Robins (2020) Transitional Justice and Theories of Change: Towards evaluation as understanding, International Journal of Transitional Justice, 14(2). 
• Mirto, Giorgia, et al. (2020) Mourning Missing Migrants: Ambiguous Loss and the Grief of Strangers. in: Border Deaths: Causes, Dynamics and Consequences of Migration-Related Mortality, edited by Paolo Cuttitta and Tamara Last, Amsterdam University Press, 2020: 103–16. 
• Gready, Paul and Simon Robins (2019) From Transitional to Transformative Justice, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Bhandari, R. K., & Robins, S. (2018). Nepal. In The Elgar Companion to Post-Conflict Transition. Edward Elgar Publishing.
• Robins, Simon (2018) Missing in Migration: From Research to Practice. Practicing Anthropology 40(2): 24–27.
• Gready, Paul and Simon Robins (2017) Rethinking civil society and transitional justice: lessons from social movements and new civil society, The International Journal of Human Rights, 21(7): 956-975.
• Robins, Simon (2017), Failing Victims? The Limits of Transitional Justice in Addressing the Needs of Victims of Violations, Human Rights and International Legal Discourse, 11(1).
• Kovras, Iosif and Simon Robins (2017) Missing Migrants: Deaths at Sea and Unidentified Bodies on Lesbos, in Migrating borders and moving times: Temporality and the crossing of borders in Europe, edited by Hastings Donnan, Madeleine Hurd, Carolin Leutloff-Grandits, Manchester University Press.
• Robins, Simon (2016) Transition but not Transformation: How Nepal’s liberal peace fails its citizens, in: Nepal Transition to Peace: A decade of the Comprehensive Peace Accord. Kathmandu: NTTP/ USAID.
• The Transitional Justice Barometer (2016) Contrasting notions of history and collective memory in Tunisia: The teaching of recent history and the figure of Bourguiba today, KADEM: Tunis. (French) (Arabic)
• The Mediterranean Missing Project (2016) Missing migrants in the Mediterranean: Addressing the Humanitarian Crisis, Summary Report. 
• Robins, Simon (2016) Discursive approaches to ambiguous loss: Theorizing community-based therapy after enforced disappearance, Journal of Family Theory and Review 8(3): 308-323.
• Kovras, Iosif and Simon Robins (2016) Death as the Border: Managing Missing Migrants and Unidentified Bodies at the EU’s Mediterranean Frontier, Political Geography 55: 40-49.
• Robins, Simon, Ram Kumar Bhandari and the ex-PLA Research Group (2016) Poverty, stigma and alienation: Reintegration challenges of ex-Maoist combatants in Nepal (English) (Nepali), York: CAHR. (Briefing note also available)
• The Transitional Justice Barometer (2016) The “victim zone” and collective reparations in Tunisia: Ain Draham and Sidi Makhlouf: “So rich and yet so poor”, KADEM: Tunis. (French) (Arabic)
• Robins, Simon (2016) Book Review Unbribable Bosnia and Herzegovina: The Fight for The Commons, Dialogues on Historical Justice and Memory.
• Robins, Simon  (2015) Corpses as Political Subjects, Death Studies, 39:10.

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•  Robins, Simon and Wilson, Erik (2015) Participatory Methodologies with Victims: An Emancipatory Approach to Transitional Justice Research, Canadian Journal of Law and Society, 30(2).
• The Transitional Justice Barometer (2015) Victim Participation in Tunisia’s Transitional Justice process (English) (Arabic) (French).
• Robins, Simon (2015) Ambiguous Loss and Addressing Legacies of Disappearance in Conflict, NCFR Report Magazine. 
• Kurze, A, Lamont, C. and Robins. S. (2015) Contested spaces of transitional justice: Legal empowerment in global post-conflict contexts revisited, International Journal of Human Rights, 19 (3).
• Robins, Simon (2015) Mapping a Future for Transitional Justice by Learning from Its Past, Int. Journal of Transitional Justice, 9:181-190.
• Robins, Simon; Iosif Kovras and Anna Vallianatou (2014) Addressing Migrant Bodies on Europe’s Southern Frontier: An agenda for research and practice. Briefing Paper. (A summary version can be found here.)
• Robins, Simon (2014) Constructing Meaning from Disappearance: Local Memorialisation of the Missing in Nepal. International Journal of Conflict and Violence, 8(1). 
• Gready, Paul and Simon Robins (2014) From Transitional to Transformative Justice: A New Agenda for Practice. Int. Journal of Transitional Justice,  8(3).
• Robins, Simon (2014) Book Review: Jessica Auchter, The Politics of Haunting and Memory in International Relations, London and New York: Dialogues on Historical Justice and Memory.
• Robins, Simon; Iosif Kovras and Anna Vallianatou (2014) Addressing Migrant Bodies on Europe’s Southern Frontier: An agenda for research and practice. Briefing Paper. (A summary version can be found here.)
• Robins, S. (2013) Toward Victim-centered Transitional Justice: Nepal and Timor-Leste, Middle East Institute: Middle East-Asia Project (MAP) series on ‘Pathways to Transitional Justice in the Arab World – Reflections on the Asia Pacific Experience.’
• Robins, S. (2013) Families of the Missing: A Test for Contemporary Approaches to Transitional Justice, New York / London: Routledge Glasshouse. This is the book of my PhD work with families in Nepal and Timor-Leste.
• Robins, S. (2013) Book Review: Jenny Edkins, Missing: Persons and Politics. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2011. Social & Legal Studies 22(1) 133 -146.
• Robins, S. (2013) ‘An empirical approach to post-conflict legitimacy: Victims’ needs and the everyday‘, Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding 7 (1).
• Robins, S and Ram Kumar Bhandari (2012), ‘From victims to actors: Mobilising victims to drive transitional justice process’, NEFAD: Kathmandu.This is the report of a participatory action research project funded by the Berghof Foundation and conducted in collaboration with NEFAD, the National Network of Families of the Disappeared and Missing, Nepal. It aims to understand how victims of conflict can become agents in addressing the legacies of violence. The following documents are available:
  • The research report
  • A summary of the research and the NEFAD Plan of Action (English and Nepali)
  • Conflict Victims’ Committee, Bardiya: Building a Family Association: Lessons learned (Nepali)
• Robins, S. (2012), Book review: Gender in Transitional Justice. Edited by Susanne Buckley-Zistel and Ruth Stanley. Hampshire, UK and New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012. Pp. 297. Historical Justice and Memory Network.
• Robins, S. (2012) ‘Transitional justice as an elite discourse: Human rights practice between the global and the local in post-conflict Nepal‘, Critical Asian Studies, 44(1).
• Robins, S. (2012) ‘Challenging the therapeutic ethic: A victim-centred evaluation of transitional justice process in Timor-Leste‘, Int. Journal of Transitional Justice, 6(1):  1-23.
• Robins, S. (2011) ‘Addressing the needs of families of the Missing:  A test of contemporary approaches to transitional justice’, PhD Thesis. York, UK: PRDU, University of York.
• Robins, S. (2011) ‘To Live as Other Kenyans Do’: A Study of the Reparative Demands of Kenyan Victims of Human Rights Violations, Nairobi: International Center for Transitional Justice. (A summary in Kiswahili is also available here, and a launch video of the report here.)
• H. Wasti, P. Mahat, R. Karn & S. Robins (2011), ‘Victims’ families needs for truth and justice – Challenges for human rights groups and the Nepali justice system’ in We need the truth: Enforced Disappearances in Asia, ECAP, Guatemala.
• Robins, S. (2011), ‘Towards victim-centred transitional justice: Understanding the needs of families of the disappeared in postconflict Nepal‘, Int. Journal of Transitional Justice 5(1), March 2011.
• Robins, S. (2010), ‘Ambiguous loss in a non-Western context: Families of the disappeared in post-conflict Nepal‘, Family Relations 59 (July 2010): 253 – 268.
• Robins, S. (2010) Book review: Hugo van der Merwe, Victoria Baxter and Audrey R. Chapman (eds.) Assessing the impact of transitional justice: Challenges for empirical research (Washington USIP Press, 2009)”, Millenium Journal of International Studies 39: 588.
• Robins, S. (2010) ‘Towards a victim-centred transitional justice: Understanding the needs of wives of the disappeared in Nepal‘, Conference paper presented at ISA 2010, New Orleans, 17-20 Feb. 2010.
• Robins, S. (2010), ‘An assessment of the needs of families of the Missing in Timor-Leste’, York: PRDU. (A briefer version of this report published by ICRC  can be found here: Needs of families of the Missing in Timor-Leste (English) and Tetun,Portuguese, Indonesian.)
• Robins, S. (2010) A participatory approach to ethnographic research with victims of gross human rights violations:  Studying families of the disappeared in post-conflict Nepal’, in Ozerdem, A. and Bowd, R. (eds), Participatory Research Methodologies in Development and Post Disaster/Conflict Reconstruction, Ashgate, 2010.
• Robins, S., (2009), Whose voices? Understanding victims’ views of transition, Journal of Human Rights Practice, 1(2): 320 (2009).
• Robins, S. (2009), ‘Restorative approaches to criminal justice in Africa: The case of Uganda‘, in: The Theory and Practice of Criminal Justice in Africa, (African Human Security Inititaive) ISS Monograph series no. 161, June 2009.
• Robins, S. (2009) Book review: Pouligny, B., S. Chesterman and A. Schnabel (eds.), After Mass Crime: Rebuilding States and Communities, Tokyo: United Nations University Press, (2007). Breen Smyth, M., Truth Recovery and Justice After Conflict: Managing Violent Pasts, New York: Routledge, (2007), Millennium Journal of International Studies, 37.3, March 2009.
• Robins, S. (2009) ‘An assessment of the needs of families of the Missing in Nepal’, York: PRDU. (A briefer version of this report published by ICRC Nepal can be found here: Families of Missing persons in Nepal: A study of their needs (English) and Nepali