This article assesses the psychological impact on victims of the nation-building discourse of truth commissions. It asks: to what degree does a nation undergo a uniform and collective truth-telling experience and what are the consequences for individual subjectivities of asserting…
This paper focuses on the legacy of the negotiated settlement in South Africa. It begins by outlining the events surrounding the South African transition, and looks closely at the role of violence in that process. The timing of the transition…
In a large country with many rural inhabitants, to merely document all the gross violations of human rights that occurred under apartheid and to simply provide the space to thousands of victims to recount the stories of their abuse, all…
This paper attempts to provide some understanding of the role of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in promoting reconciliation within the community of Duduza. While the TRC does not have a specific mandate to advance local reconciliation, it has…
This paper examines aspects of structural violence in South Africa and suggests that true reconciliation can be achieved only if these aspects are redressed. The structural violence of the past has vital implications for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's enterprise to acknowledge and rewrite an often denied history of human rights abuses. It raises vital questions as to the nature of economic development and its relation to new and ongoing forms of social conflict.
This report is a culmination of eleven workshops conducted by the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation with a sample of victims/survivors who belong to Khulumani Victim Support Group. The aim of the workshops was to elicit the views of victims/survivors on the recommendations to be made by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in its final report.
