The terms 'disappeared' and 'disappearance' emerged during the Argentine dictatorship in the 1970s, when the Argentine state kidnapped and killed those that it perceived to be a threat to its operations and ideological foundations. However, disappearance has been perpetrated systematically and for diverse rationale across the globe for centuries. As such, enforced disappearance has been a historical constituent element of violence linked to wider political, economic and cultural processes, including slavery, colonialism, the egregious political violence perpetrated in diverse settings during the Cold War, the kidnapping of women and girls for sexual slavery and the silencing of opposition to ecological and environmental activism. 
 
Today, enforced disappearance is considered a serious human rights violation and a permanent form of torture. The International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance entered into force in 2010, with the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances celebrated on 30 August. The juridical framework for disappearance then has become increasingly consolidated over time. Nevertheless, relatively little is known about how the relatives, communities and societies of those that are disappeared live with disappearance, including in terms of its embodied, psychological and everyday impacts. Moreover, beyond significant changes in the juridical realm and formalised institutional mandates to search for the disappeared, measures aimed at offering a meaningful response to disappearance are relatively underdeveloped in comparison to other post-conflict reconstruction initiatives. Finally, despite international attention given to disappearance as a crime, particularly since the Argentina case, disappearance is still not afforded the same attention and consideration within academia and policy/practice as other, more spectacular, forms of violence, such as warfare, terrorist attacks, massacre and torture. 

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Responding to this, the ‘Living with Disappearance” network was founded at an inaugural workshop held at the University of Bristol 24/25th July 2023. Conceived by Associate Professor Roddy Brett (University of Bristol) & Professor Brad Evans (University of Bath), its mission includes the following stated aims:

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• ​To establish “disappearance studies” as a core sub-field of study in conflict, violence and peace related programs.

• To conceptualise disappearance – including understanding the why, when and how of disappearance – by drawing upon latest thinking in many applied fields.

• To conduct ground-breaking trans-disciplinary research that address the specificities and commonalities to disappearances across space and time.

• To bring together academics, policymakers, practitioners, artists and cultural producers for the co-production of interventions aimed at bringing about societal and academic impact.

• To propose ethical frameworks for the researching and teaching of disappearance as a pedagogical and public concern.

• To host international conferences, public talks, workshops and summer schools to further the awareness of and engagement with disappearance.

• To develop a dedicated series of outputs, including the first Journal for Disappearance Studies, along with a book series and policy briefings.