The Politics of Truth and Reconciliation in South Africa
Author | : Richard Wilson |
Publisher | : Cambridge University Press |
Total Pages | : 300 |
Release | : 2001-05-02 |
ISBN-10 | : 0521001943 |
ISBN-13 | : 9780521001946 |
Rating | : 4/5 (946 Downloads) |
Download or read book The Politics of Truth and Reconciliation in South Africa written by Richard Wilson and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2001-05-02 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was set up to deal with the human rights violations of apartheid during the years 1960-1994. However, as Wilson shows, the TRC's restorative justice approach to healing the nation did not always serve the needs of communities at a local level. Based on extended anthropological fieldwork, this book illustrates the impact of the TRC in urban African communities in Johannesburg. While a religious constituency largely embraced the commission's religious-redemptive language of reconciliation, Wilson argues that the TRC had little effect on popular ideas of justice as retribution. This provocative study deepens our understanding of post-apartheid South Africa and the use of human rights discourse. It ends on a call for more cautious and realistic expectations about what human rights institutions can achieve in democratizing countries.