Cover not available
Article published In:
Critical Linguistic Perspectives on Coping with Traumatic Pasts: Case studies
Edited by Christine Anthonissen and Jan Blommaert †
[Journal of Language and Politics 5:1] 2006
► pp. 15–35

The debate on truth and reconciliation

A survey of literature on the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission

 | Ghent University
This article gives an overview of a large part of contemporary TRC literature. Hundreds of publications have appeared on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. With a view to proper academic reflection it would be useful to classify this literature. Various classificatory criteria could be used. In this text a topical perspective is taken, so the TRC literature is subdivided on the basis of the thematic focus of the author. Perspectives on the SA Truth Commission have many different thematic interests, such as legal, religious, political, psychological, anthropological and linguistic. This paper tries to bring some cohesion and meaningful organization to this multitude of books, articles and dissertations. Within each thematic category representative examples are pointed out. Finally, reference is made to some lacunae and overlaps which are evident from looking at the body of TRC literature. As a result, this article can be seen as an investigation into the characterizing features of the debate on the TRC.
Keywords: South Africa, Truth and Reconciliation Commission, literature, critical survey
Published online: 14 April 2006
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.5.1.03ver
References (36)
References
Asmal, Kader, Asmal, Louise and Roberts, Ronald Suresh. 1997. Reconciliation Through Truth, a Reckoning of Apartheid's Criminal Governance. Cape Town: David Philip Publishers.Google Scholar
Bell, Terry and Ntsebeza, Dumisa Buhle. 2001. Unfinished Business. South Africa, Apartheid and Truth. Observatory: RedWorks.Google Scholar
Bizos, George. 1998. No One to Blame? In Pursuit of Justice in South Africa. Claremont: David Philip Publishers Ltd.Google Scholar
Boraine, Alex. 2000. A Country Unmasked. Inside South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Cape Town: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Boraine, Alex and Levy, Janet (eds). 1995. The Healing of a Nation? Cape Town: Justice in Transition.Google Scholar
Boraine, Alex, Levy, Janet and Scheffer, Ronel (eds). 1997. Dealing with the Past, Truth and Reconciliation in South Africa. Cape Town: Institute for Democracy in South Africa.Google Scholar
Botman, Russell H. and Petersen, Robin (eds). 1996. To Remember and to Heal. Theological and Psychological Reflections on Truth and Reconciliation. Cape Town: Human & Rousseau.Google Scholar
Christie, Kenneth. 2000. The South African Truth Commission. London: MacMillan Press Ltd. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cochrane, James, De Gruchy, John and Martin, Stephen (eds). 1999. Facing the Truth. South African faith communities and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Cape Town: David Philip Publishers.Google Scholar
Connor, Bernard. 1998. The Difficult Traverse. From Amnesty to Reconciliation. Pietermaritzburg: Cluster Publications.Google Scholar
Frost, Brian. 1998. Struggling to Forgive, Nelson Mandela and South Africa's Search for Reconciliation. London: Harper Collins Publishers.Google Scholar
Graybill, Lyn S. 2002. Truth and Reconciliation in South Africa. Miracle or Model? Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers, Inc.Google Scholar
Hamilton, Carolyn et al.. (eds). 2002. Refiguring the Archive. Cape Town: David Philip Publishers. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hay, Mark. 1998. Ukubuyisana. Reconciliation in South Africa. Pietermaritzburg: Cluster Publications.Google Scholar
Hayner, Priscilla B. 2000. Unspeakable Truths. Confronting State Terror and Atrocity. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Ignatieff, Michael. 1998. The Warrior's Honor, Ethnic War and the Modern Conscience. London: Chatto & Windus.Google Scholar
Jefferey, Anthea. 2001. The Truth about the Truth Commission. Johannesburg: South African Institute for Race Relations.Google Scholar
Khoisan, Zenzile. 2001. Jakaranda Time, An Investigator's View of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Observatory: Garib Communications.Google Scholar
Krog, Antjie. 1998. Country of My Skull: Guilt, Sorrow, and the Limits of Forgiveness in the New South Africa. Parklands: Random House South Africa.Google Scholar
Mamdani, Mahmood. 1998. When Does Reconciliation Turn into a Denial of Justice? Pretoria: HSRC Publishers.Google Scholar
Meiring, Piet. 1999. Chronicle of the Truth Commission. Vanderbijlpark: Carpe Diem Books.Google Scholar
Meredith, Martin. 1999. Coming to Terms, South Africa's Search for Truth. New York: Public Affairs.Google Scholar
Minow, Martha. 1998. Between Vengeance and Forgiveness. Facing History after Genocide and Mass Violence. Boston: Beacon Press.Google Scholar
Orr, Wendy. 2000. From Biko to Basson. Saxonwold: Contra Press.Google Scholar
Pons, Sophie. 2000. Apartheid, l'aveu et le Pardon. Saint-Amand-Montrond: Bayard Editions.Google Scholar
Posel, Deborah and Simpson, Graeme (eds). 2002. Commissioning the Past: Understanding South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press, 147—172.Google Scholar
Roodt, Dan. 2000. Om die waarheidskommissie te vergeet. Dainfern: Praag.Google Scholar
Ross, Fiona C. 2003. Bearing Witness: Women and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa. London: Pluto Press.Google Scholar
Rotberg, Robert I. and Thompson, Dennis (eds). 2000. Truth versus Justice: The Morality of Truth Commissions. Princeton: Princeton University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Shea, Dorothea. 2000. The South African Truth Commission: The Politics of Reconciliation. Washington DC: United States Institute of Peace Press.Google Scholar
Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa. 1998. Final Report. London MacMillan Press Ltd.Google Scholar
Tutu, Desmond. 1999. No Future without Forgiveness: A Personal Overview of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission. London: Rider Books. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
VanZanten Gallagher, Susan. 2002. Truth and Reconciliation. The Confessional Mode in South African Literature. Portsmouth: Heinemann.Google Scholar
Villa-Vicencio, Charles and Wilhelm Verwoerd (eds). 2000. Looking Back. Reaching Forward. Reflections on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa. Cape Town: University of Cape Town Press.Google Scholar
Villa-Vicencio, Charles and Erik Doxtader (eds). 2003. The Provocations of Amnesty: Memory, Justice and Impunity. Claremont: David Philip Publishers.Google Scholar
Wilson, Richard A. 2001. The politics of Truth and Reconciliation in South Africa. Legitimising the Post-Apartheid State. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cited by (3)

Cited by three other publications

Becker, Heike
2011. Beyond Trauma: New Perspectives on the Politics of Memory in East and Southern Africa. African Studies 70:2 ► pp. 321 ff. DOI logo
Anthonissen, Christine
2008. On Interpreting the Interpreter – Experiences of Language Practitioners Mediating for the TRC. Journal of Multicultural Discourses 3:3 ► pp. 165 ff. DOI logo
Verdoolaege, Annelies
2008. The South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission and Multicultural Discourse. Journal of Multicultural Discourses 3:3 ► pp. 157 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 22 november 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.