Date of publishing:
25.3.2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21104/CL.2026.1.02
The Český lid provides open access to all of its content under licenseCreative Commons Attribution NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International.
Abstract:
This article examines the experiences of survivors of the 13 November 2015 Paris attacks and the 14 July 2016 Nice attack in France, focusing on how they relate to the deceased victims and experience their agency. Using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA), the paper explores the agential relationships that emerge between survivors and the dead, even prior acquaintance. The findings challenge conventional accounts of agency as intentional action, showing that the dead can exert a form of agency grounded in affective, ethical, and meaning-making processes. Drawing on the concepts of communitas and continuing bonds, the paper demonstrates that the shared experience of existential rupture can create enduring connections between the living and the dead in the aftermath of political violence. The article contributes to grief and agency theory by reconceptualising survival after terrorism as a relational condition, constituted through the ongoing agency of deceased victims.
Keywords
agency, terrorism, survivors, deceased victims, continuing bonds, communitas, interpretive phenomenological analysis
Article Text
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