Memory, Narrative and Forgiveness: Perspectives on the Unfinished Journeys of the Past
Editor: Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela and Chris Van Der Merwe
Date Of Publication: Feb 2009
Isbn13: 978-1-4438-0158-4
Isbn: 1-4438-0158-5
The United Nations’ declaration of 2009 as the International Year of Reconciliation is testimony to the growing use of historical commissions as instruments of reconciliation in post-conflict societies. Since the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) has had a profound impact on international efforts to deal with the aftermath of mass violence and societal conflict, this is an appropriate time for scholars to debate and reflect on the work of the TRC and the wide-ranging scholarship it has inspired across disciplines. With a foreword by Harvard Law Professor Martha Minow, Memory, Narrative, and Forgiveness: Perspectives on the Unfinished Journeys of the Past offers readers a front-row seat where a team of scholars draw on both theoretical analysis and case studies from around the world to explore the themes of memory, narrative, forgiveness and apology, and how these themes often interact in either mutually supportive or unsettling ways. The book is a vibrant discussion by scholars in philosophy, psychology, psychoanalytic theory, history, literary theory, and Holocaust studies. The authors explore the complex, interconnected issues of trauma and narrative (testimonial and literary narrative and theatre as narrative), mourning and the potential of forgiveness to heal the enduring effects of mass trauma, and transgenerational trauma-memory as a basis for dialogue and reconciliation in divided societies.

The authors go well beyond the South African TRC and address a wide range of historical events to explore the possibilities and the challenges that lie on the path of reconciliation and forgiveness between victims, perpetrators, and bystanders in societies with a history of violent conflict and unspeakable injustice. The book provides readers with a cohesive, theoretically well-grounded analysis of the impact of traumatic memories in the personal and communal lives of survivors of trauma. It explores how narrative may be creatively applied in processes of healing trauma, and how public testimony can often restore the moral balance of societies ravaged by trauma. The book deepens understanding of the ways in which lessons from the TRC might be developed and both usefully and cautiously applied in other post-conflict situations.

Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela is the author of the critically acclaimed book, A Human Being Died that Night: A Story of Forgiveness, which won the Alan Paton Award and the Christopher Award. She is co-author of Narrating our Healing: Perspectives on Healing Trauma. She served on the Human Rights Violations Committee of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Currently she is Professor of Psychology at the University of Cape Town.

Chris van der Merwe is the author of various books and articles on South African and Dutch Literature. His books include Barriers, Stereotypes and the Changing of Values in Afrikaans Literature and Strangely Familiar: South African Narratives on Town and Countryside, which he edited. He is co-author of Narrating our Healing – Perspectives on Working through Trauma. He received the Book Journalist of the Year award in 1994 for his radio talks on South African Literature. Currently he is Associate Professor of Afrikaans and Dutch Literature at the University of Cape Town.

"This is a very important and timely book for everyone concerned with a holistic approach to justice and peace. The significance of memory, truth recovery, and forgiveness cannot be underestimated. This book of essays promises to stimulate a very necessary interdisciplinary debate concerning trauma, apologies and healing."

—Alex Boraine, Chairperson and founder of the International Centre for Transitional Justice, author of A Country Unmasked: Inside South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (Oxford, 2001).

“Although volumes have been written about South Africa’s truth and reconciliation process, high-quality, analytical work has been relatively sparse. Until now! In breadth, depth, and generality, Memory, Narrative and Forgiveness is an unparalleled collection of research papers. This is not a book about South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission; nor even about South Africa itself. Rather, the various chapters explore and analyze fundamental processes of memory, healing, forgiveness, and memorialization of the past. This volume is an extraordinarily useful contribution to our understanding of truth and reconciliation throughout the world.”

—James Gibson, is the Sidney W. Souers Professor of Government in the Department of Political Science at Washington University. He is the author of Overcoming Apartheid: Can Truth Reconcile A Divided Nation? (Russell Sage, 2004).

"This excellent collection of essays provides us with thoughtful distinctions between forgiveness and apology, atonement and moral repair, and reconciliation and social reconstruction. These distinctions themselves add nuance to what has become a growing and essential debate about how societies that have been torn apart by horrendous, violent conflict, can collectively engage in the process of healing and reconstruction. The essays engage the growing terrain of trauma theory …. The authors, however, not only look at social institutions but also at representations in art and literature, which enhances the rich quality of the text. Moreover, several of the authors, writing about reconciliation in post colonies, particularly in Africa, address the need to develop African ethical ideals, such as Ubuntu, as crucially important in the growing literature on transitional justice. This book will be a much-welcomed text in departments ranging from sociology, anthropology, law and comparative literature. "

—Drucilla Cornell is the Chair of Customary Law, Indigenous Values and Dignity Jurisprudence and co-director of the uBuntu Project at the University of Cape Town's Law Faculty.

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