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 loca...

Full description

Bibliographic Details

Main Author:	Wilson, Richard 1964- (Author)
Format:	Electronic eBook
Language:	English
Published:	Cambridge Cambridge University Press 2001
Series:	Cambridge studies in law and society
Subjects:	South Africa / Truth and Reconciliation Commission Südafrika > Truth and Reconciliation Commission Geschichte 1995-1998 Politik Reconciliation / Political aspects / South Africa Apartheid / South Africa Post-apartheid era / South Africa Retribution Legitimation Südafrika (Staat) South Africa / Politics and government / 1994- South Africa / Race relations
Online Access:	DE-12 DE-473 Volltext
Summary:	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
Item Description:	Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015)
Physical Description:	1 online resource (xxi, 271 pages)
ISBN:	9780511522291
DOI:	10.1017/CBO9780511522291