Trading Justice for Peace? : : Reframing reconciliation in TRC processes in South Africa, Canada and Nordic countries / / Sigriður Guðmarsdóttir, Paulette Regan, Demaine Jason Solomons.

• VerfasserIn: Guðmarsdóttir, Sigriður,; Solomons, Demaine Jason,; Regan, Paulette,
• TeilnehmendeR: Solomons, Demaine Jason,; Regan, Paulette,
• Place / Publishing House: Cape Town, South Africa : : AOSIS,, 2021.
• Year of Publication: 2021
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (336 pages)

Conflict in its various manifestations continues to be a defining feature in many places throughout the world. In an attempt to address such conflict, various forms of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) have been introduced to facilitate the transition from social conflict to a new dispensation. The introduction and subsequent proceedings of TRCs in South Africa, Canada and Norway are widely regarded as good examples of this approach. Against this background, a number of researchers from VID Specialized University and the University of the Western Cape had an exploratory meeting in Oslo in 2018 where the possibility for a joint research project under the broad theme of 'discourses on reconciliation' was first discussed. This led to two further research symposia in Cape Town and Tromsø in 2019. With the inclusion of specialists working on the Canadian Truth and Reconciliation process, these meetings demonstrated common ground and a shared understanding of the issues at stake. Moreover, it pointed to the differences between the South African, Canadian and Norwegian Commissions. In comparing the South African, Canadian and Norwegian experiences, researchers identified that these countries were, in fact, at different stages of their respective truth and reconciliation processes. This has prompted scholars to revisit and problematise these processes in relation to ongoing societal challenges. In all cases, it is quite apparent that reconciliation between individuals and groups remains a significant challenge.

Table of Contents

Abbreviations and Figures Appearing in the Text and Notes -- List of Abbreviations -- List of Figures Notes on Contributors Acknowledgements -- Introduction: Trading justice for peace? Perils and possibilities -- Demaine Solomons, Paulette Regan & Sigríður Guðmarsdóttir -- Book structure and themes -- Spelling variations of 'Sámi' -- A final word -- Part One: Negotiating truth, justice and reconciliation: TRC mandates, processes and legacies -- Chapter 1: Negotiating the meaning of 'TRC' in the Norwegian context Tore Johnsen -- Introduction -- Background: Settlement history, the Norwegianisation policy and the emergence of demands for a TRC -- Negotiating the status/Level of the Norwegian Investigation: Initial Pre-TRC Political Debates (2015-2017) -- Negotiating the interpretative horizon of the inquiry: The mandate and the troublesome name of the 'TRC' (2017-2018) -- Public-methodological implications of 'TRC: The first half of the implementation phase (2018-2020) -- The Value of Personal Testimonies for the TRC's Truth-seeking Is there a public dimension beyond gathering testimonies? 'Reconciliation' and the people-to-people perspective Concluding remarks: Suggestions and recommendations -- Chapter 2: Canada's TRC: An 'unsettling' Indigenous-centred relational justice and reconciliation model -- Paulette Regan -- Canada's TRC: A post-TRC reflection -- Indigenous peoples and TRCS in settler-colonial states: Trading justice for peace? -- Origins of Canada's TRC: Western transitional justice and ADR in a settler-colonial state -- Towards an Indigenous-centred TRC: -- The Commission's mandate, structure and operations An 'unsettling' Indigenous-centred relational justice and reconciliation model -- Post-TRC accountability on calls to action -- Conclusion: Transnational insights from Canada's TRC -- Chapter 3: Reconciliation recommended: On the anchoring of TRC proposals -- Kjell-Åke Nordquist -- Introduction -- The nature of recommendations - Two examples -- Canada -- South Africa -- From actor to proxy -- Political immunity? -- Reconciliation or forgiveness? -- Conflictual relations - Horizontal or not? -- A theoretical blunder? -- Three critical relationships -- Intragroup critics -- Bystanders -- Crossing the diagonal -- A negotiating TRC? -- A concluding word -- Chapter 4: Reconciliation as an outcome rather than an intention -- Stanley Henkeman -- Introduction -- Roots of reconciliation as we know it -- Broadening the framework -- Reconciliation imposed from the top -- Inverse approach - Reconciliation from below Conclusion -- Chapter 8: Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada: An invitation to boldness -- Sheryl Lightfoot -- Introduction -- The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples -- Truth and reconciliation commission of Canada -- The bold move: A fundamental discursive shift -- A new landscape: Transformative change Conclusion -- Part Three: Re-storying national histories: Counter-narratives of social memory and justice -- Chapter 9: Narrative and truth and reconciliation -- John Klaasen -- Introduction -- Storytelling -- Overview of the establishment of the TRC -- Stories and 'storyscape' as methodology -- Conclusion -- Chapter 10: Reburial of Sami human remains as ritualised reconciliation -- Daniel Lindmark -- Introduction -- The Church-Sami reconciliation process Ritual as drama -- Earlier reburials of Sami human remains -- The removal and return of human remains from the old cemetery in Lycksele -- The Lycksele repatriation project as reconciliatory practice -- The reburial ceremony in Lycksele -- The reburial ceremony as ritualised reconciliation -- 'Restoration in reconciliation?" -- Reconciliation in theory and practice - A concluding discussion -- Chapter 11: Records as instruments of truth, justice and -- reconciliation - Disrupting colonialism in archival praxis Elizabeth Shaffer -- Introduction -- The Indian residential school system and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada -- Truth commissions and records -- UNDRIP and the United Nations Joinet-Orentlicher Principles -- The right to know and the duty to remember -- Engaging archival praxis -- The Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre at UBC Conclusion -- Part Four: Histories of violence and trauma: -- negotiating identity, responsibility and accountability for redress and reconciliation -- Chapter 12: Steve Biko as a 'Christian': A contribution to ethnic and racial reconciliation in post-apartheid South Africa Eugene Baron -- Introduction -- The legacy of racialisation in South Africa -- Black consciousness as an ethnic response -- Black consciousness as a socio-economic response -- Black consciousness as a theological response -- Biko's black consciousness response as a Christian response -- Biko's problem with Christianity -- South African hope: Ethnic reconciliation -- Conclusion -- Chapter 13: Social justice, white beneficiaries and the South African TRC -- Wilhelm Verwoerd -- 'Us? Beneficiaries of apartheid!? The very thought White beneficiaries: Pre- and post-1994 -- White 'participants' pre-1994 -- White beneficiaries, participants and perpetuators -- Between perpetration and implication - What about former white conscripts? -- Becoming white beneficiaries -- 'I am - The brutal thing itself: A little Benzien in each beneficiary? -- Chapter 14: Unsettling 'perpetrators': Comrade memories of complex violence and the South African TRC -- Kim Wale -- Introduction -- Haunted histories of squatter-comrade violence -- Unsettling hegemonic narratives and identities of past violence Squatter-comrades of Crossroads: 'Dented' memories of courage and fear -- The split between 'just' and 'unjust' violence -- The social-psychological trauma of a double unclaiming -- Reclaiming violence in the 'grey zone' -- Walking memories spiral: A continuous, dynamic, unsettling process -- Chapter 15: Building thin sympathetic engagement to foster -- truth commission success -- Joanna R. Quinn -- Introduction -- Three cases -- A different kind of violence Over and over and over -- Intervention: Thin sympathy -- In reverse -- Conclusion -- Conclusion: Forging transnational pathways for reconciliation Paulette Regan, Demaine Solomons & Sigríður Guðmarsdóttir -- References -- Index.