Disappearance Studies Conference The Journal of Disappearance Studies, in collaboration with the Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies and the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, invites you to attend its inaugural conference, scheduled to take place from September 29–30, 2025, at the University of Notre Dame. This landmark event marks the official launch of the Journal of Disappearance Studies, edited by scholars affiliated with the University of Bristol, Durham University, and the University of Tampere, which offers an interdisciplinary platform to examine the phenomenon of disappearance worldwide. The conference will convene scholars, practitioners, policymakers, artists, families of the disappeared, and advocacy organizations to explore the socio-political, cultural, and economic dimensions of disappearance. Conference Schedule MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 299:45 AM – 10:15 AM: Opening remarks – Room 1050, Jenkins Nanovic Halls10:30 AM – 12:00 PM: Panel 1, Memory, Art, and Embodied Testimony – Room 1050, Jenkins Nanovic HallsAlison Ribeiro de Menezes – From Disappearance to Disappearability: Natalia Beristáin’s Ruido (Noise, 2023)Cheryl Lawther – The Political Lives of Ireland’s Missing: Ownership, Agency and the Demands of the DeadTeri Murphy – From Indignity to Dignity: Search as HealingPortia Chigbu – For Those Washed Away: State Obligations in Addressing Involuntary Disappearances During Natural Disasters 12:00 PM – 1:15 PM: Break1:30 PM – 3:00 PM: Panel 2, Power, Politics, and Mobilization – Room 1050, Jenkins Nanovic HallsBahar Baser, Shivan Fazil and Élise Féron – Missing in the Shadows: Forced Disappearances of Yezidis and the Search for TruthCarlos Martin Beristain – Criterion of psychosocial work in the investigation of forced disappearances in Guatemala, Mexico, and ColombiaCarmen Hassoun Abou Jaoude – The National Commission for the Missing and Forcibly Disappeared in Lebanon: challenges and opportunitiesGerasimos Tsourapas – Colonial Legacies and Authoritarian Circulations in Libya’s Disappearance Regime 3:00 PM – 3:30 PM: Break3:30 PM – 4:30 PM: Evening Keynote, Luz Janet Forero Martinez, Director General of the Search Unit for Missing Persons in Colombia  – Hesburgh Center Auditorium 4:30 PM – 6:00 PM: Reception – Jenkins Nanovic Halls ForumTUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30 9:00 AM – 10:30 AM: Panel 3, Legal and Forensic Responses to Disappearance – Room 1030, Jenkins Nanovic HallsLauren Dempster – Forensic Scientists in Transitional Justice: Challenges and Possibilities in the Search for the DisappearedGunes Dasli & Nisan Alici – Understanding Political Responses to Enforced Disappearances in Divided SocietiesMónica E. Nuño Nuño – Jalisco and enforced disappearances: a forensic crisis and mass graves 10:30 AM – 11:00 AM: Break 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM: Panel 4, Irish Perspectives on Disappearance – Room 1030, Jenkins Nanovic HallsSandra Peake – Orchestrated loss and the Disappeared of Northern Ireland’s ConflictDympna Kerr – My brother ColumbaOrla Lynch – Victims of political violence – a very public traumaPhil Scraton – Disappearance, Loss and Searching: the Cruel Legacy of Mother and Baby InstitutionsJennifer O Mahoney – Disappearing girls and women: Gendered state violence and the ethics of institutional memory in postcolonial Ireland 12:30 PM – 1:30 PM: Book Launch, The Disappeared: The Hidden Victims of Northern Ireland's Conflict by Sandra Peake and Orla Lynch - Room 1030, Jenkins Nanovic Halls 1:30 PM – 3:00 PM: Panel 5, Feminist & Gendered Approaches to Disappearance – Room 1050, Jenkins Nanovic HallsÉlise Féron – Feminist Approaches to Disappearances - Epistemologies of Activism and ResistanceAnush Petrosyan – War that Lingers: The Embodied Legacies of the Armenian - Azerbaijani ConflictTinotenda Chisambiro – The Stories of the Forgotten: Gendered Narratives of Disappearances in the Second ChimurengaSalina Kafle – Gendered Dimensions of Enforced Disappearances in Nepal: Addressing the Challenges of Women Survivors in Transitional Justice 3:00 PM – 3:30 PM: Break3:30 PM – 5:00 PM: Panel 6, Unresolved Absence and the Search for Meaning – Room 1050, Jenkins Nanovic HallsCath Collins – TBD, e.g., "Seeking 'Destino Final': The Limits of Resolution in Enforced Disappearances across Latin America"Julie Bernath – Syrian women’s everyday practices of ‘accounting for’ the disappearedRahaf Aldoughli – Loss, Loyalty, and the Emotional Aftermath of Disappearance: Syrian Fighters and the Mobilizing Power of AbsenceVilho Shigwedha – Missing people, amnesty, and reconciliation politics: The case of disappearance and unmarked war graves in northern Namibia5:30 PM – 6:30 PM: Evening Keynote, Simon Robins – Hesburgh Center Auditorium  Registration for the conference is free but required. Please contact Elizabet Campos Duarte at eduarted@nd.edu to register.   Originally published at irishstudies.nd.edu.