
Commissioning the Past
Understanding South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission
Wits University Press
Published on 1. July 2002
Book
Paperback/Softback
264 pages
978-1-86814-358-0 (ISBN)
Description
South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission was the twenty-first of its kind. It was more ambitious in the scope of its enquiry, more transparent in the nature of its proceedings, and more highly charged, symbolically, than any that preceded it. Its public hearings of testimony from victims and perpetrators, drenched with emotion and drama, are what most people remember when they recall the TRC. Yet at the same time, there were parallel processes of documentation, data analysis, quasi-judicial shifting of evidence and writing up the results.
This book engages more directly than any previous scholarship with the range of the TRC's activities, with the kinds of truth it sought to construct, and with the various ways in which its "truths" were (necessarily) fractured, incomplete and selective. This is no shallow exercise in debunking. It yields penetrating and conceptually nuanced analyses. While many of the essays in Commissioning the Past are critical of the shortcomings of the Commission, they simultaneously demonstrate a deep awareness of the contradictory brief and difficult circumstances in which the TRC operated. The book takes academic understanding of the TRC onto a new plane.
This book engages more directly than any previous scholarship with the range of the TRC's activities, with the kinds of truth it sought to construct, and with the various ways in which its "truths" were (necessarily) fractured, incomplete and selective. This is no shallow exercise in debunking. It yields penetrating and conceptually nuanced analyses. While many of the essays in Commissioning the Past are critical of the shortcomings of the Commission, they simultaneously demonstrate a deep awareness of the contradictory brief and difficult circumstances in which the TRC operated. The book takes academic understanding of the TRC onto a new plane.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Johannesburg
South Africa
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-86814-358-0 (9781868143580)
DOI
10.18772/22002073580
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Deborah Posel is professor of Sociology at the University of Cape Town, based in the Institute for Humanities in Africa, of which she was the founding director. Graeme Simpson is a founder and former Executive Director of the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation.
Janet Cherry is a South African activist and academic. She is currently Professor of Development Studies at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in Port Elizabeth. Her main areas of research are human rights, democratic participation, social and political history, gender and sustainable development John Daniel was an activist, Professor of Political Science and most recently served as Academic Director of the programme in Social and Political Transformation of the School for International Training, Durban. Piers Pigou is Crisis Group's senior consultant for Southern Africa. Madeline Fullard is Head of the Missing Persons Task Team at the South African National Prosecuting Authority. Lars Buur is based at the Department of Social Sciences and Business at Roskilde University. Pamela Sethunye Dube is Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Student Development and Support at the University of the Western Cape. Mtutuzeli Matshoba is an author, screenwriter and journalist. Phil Bonner was Professor of History at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, where he held the National Research Foundation (NRF) Chair in Local Histories and Present Realities. Noor Nieftagodien is the Deputy Chair of the History Workshop and is Senior Lecturer in the History Department at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. Hugo van der Merwe is the Transitional Justice Programme Manager at the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation Deborah Posel is a sociologist and Professor Emeritus at the University of Cape Town. She is the founding director of UCT's Institute for Humanities in Africa and the Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research.
Janet Cherry is a South African activist and academic. She is currently Professor of Development Studies at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in Port Elizabeth. Her main areas of research are human rights, democratic participation, social and political history, gender and sustainable development John Daniel was an activist, Professor of Political Science and most recently served as Academic Director of the programme in Social and Political Transformation of the School for International Training, Durban. Piers Pigou is Crisis Group's senior consultant for Southern Africa. Madeline Fullard is Head of the Missing Persons Task Team at the South African National Prosecuting Authority. Lars Buur is based at the Department of Social Sciences and Business at Roskilde University. Pamela Sethunye Dube is Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Student Development and Support at the University of the Western Cape. Mtutuzeli Matshoba is an author, screenwriter and journalist. Phil Bonner was Professor of History at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, where he held the National Research Foundation (NRF) Chair in Local Histories and Present Realities. Noor Nieftagodien is the Deputy Chair of the History Workshop and is Senior Lecturer in the History Department at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. Hugo van der Merwe is the Transitional Justice Programme Manager at the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation Deborah Posel is a sociologist and Professor Emeritus at the University of Cape Town. She is the founding director of UCT's Institute for Humanities in Africa and the Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research.
Content
Preface
Introduction
Part One Insider Accounts
Part Two Victims' Stories
Part Three Outsider Assessments
Conclusion
Index
Introduction
Part One Insider Accounts
Part Two Victims' Stories
Part Three Outsider Assessments
Conclusion
Index