Full course description
“The past refuses to lie down quietly” –Archbishop Desmond Tutu
“Who controls the past controls the future” –George Orwell, 1984
This course will examine the approaches, considerations, dilemmas and tradeoffs societies and countries face when reckoning with legacies of mass atrocity stemming from conflict, repressive regimes, or long-term structural discrimination. We will explore the meaning and application of truth and reconciliation as part of an effort to move from an unjust past to a more just future—a discipline known as Transitional Justice. Through a combination of theoretical texts and case studies, we will analyze different approaches to truth seeking, the politics of memory, victim participation, building legitimacy, and the potential impact of truth and reconciliation efforts. Cases will be drawn from around the world, including from Africa, Australia, and the Americas.
Course Objectives
Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to:
- Explain the key elements of truth and reconciliation within the field of transitional justice, including aims, dilemmas, obstacles and tensions.
- Identify how concepts of truth and reconciliation have been applied in contexts dealing with legacies of mass abuse.
- Compare and contrast the aims, dilemmas, obstacles, and tensions in defining and pursuing truth and reconciliation efforts in distinct country settings
- Identify political, strategic, context, and cultural factors to consider in assessing truth and reconciliation efforts.
- Analyze the complex cross-cutting issues at play in truth commission design, process, and post-truth commission implementation.
IModule Structure
Module 1: Truth and Reconciliation: Definitions, Objectives, and Tensions
For the first module, we will focus on building our online learning community by getting to know each other. The readings and will highlight the way transitional justice has been defined and examine how historical origins and political context have shaped the goals and approaches of efforts to seek truth and reconciliation.
Module 2: Amnesties in Theory and Practice: The South African TRC
This module will look at amnesties both in theory and in practice through the South African case. This topic raises difficult dilemmas around the duty to prosecute, how to define accountability in contexts of mass atrocity, and how to balance those imperatives with political efforts to advance peaceful transitions.
Module 3: Acknowledgement and Memorials: How we Remember, What we Forget
In Module 3 we will look at different approaches to advance acknowledgement, including community truth seeking and memorialization efforts. We will look at this issue in the global context, with a focus on how these issues play out in the United States.
Module 4: Whose Truth? Centering Voices and Participation
In Module 4 we will focus on questions of representation and participation. Together, we will explore whose truths need to be shared and how? Who needs to listen? Who, if anyone needs to respond and how? How does the narrative shift when different voices are included? Reflecting on what we have discussed in the past weeks regarding the objectives of truth-seeking, who needs to be involved in these efforts and why?
Module 5: Truth Commissions: A Closer Look- Building Legitimacy and Impact
This module will focus in on one approach to seeking truth and reconciliation: Truth Commissions. As part of that closer look, we will examine what distinguishes a truth commission from other truth seeking approaches or from trials, questions to consider in establishing a truth commission, and the impact of truth commissions. This will include a discussion on the role of broader society and who needs to take responsibility for making truth commission recommendations a reality.
Module 6: Public Apologies: The Canadian Case
Following our in-depth look at truth commissions, in this module we will look at another approach to advancing truth and reconciliation: apologies. The readings and materials will analyze the role of public apologies in the context of transitional justice and invite us to reflect on what elements make an apology meaningful or not.
Module 7: Reparations: Moving from Truth to Reconciliation
In this final module we will discuss reparations, another aspect of transitional justice in the journey from truth to reconciliation. After exploring the question of reparations, we will reflect back on what we have learned in the course over the past 6 modules. In the readings and discussion we will reflect on the question: what does a society need in order to move from truth to reconciliation?