The South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) is a modern social drama that enabled the nation's apartheid past to be constructed as a cultural trauma, and by doing so created a new collective narrative of diversity and inclusion. The TRC relied primarily on testimonies from victims and perpetrators of apartheid violence who came forward to tell their stories in a public forum. Rather than simply serving as data for setting the historical record straight, this book shows that it was not only the content of these testimonies but also how these stories were told and what values were attached to them that became significant. Goodman argues that the performative nature of the TRC process effectively designated the past as profane and simultaneously imagined a sacred future community based on democratic idealism and universal solidarity.
Author(s): Tanya Goodman, Ronald Eyerman, Jeffrey C. Alexander
Series: The Yale Cultural Sociology Series
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2010
Language: English
Pages: 194
City: New York
Cover
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
Tables and Figures
Acknowledgments
1 A Home For All
Introduction
The Architecture and Impact of Apartheid
The Transition to Democracy and the Founding of the TRC
Dealing with the Past
The Structure of the TRC
Innovations of the South African TRC
The Significance of Testimony
Bridging the Divide: Past and Future, Black and White
Defining Truth, Defining Reconciliation
2 Theoretical Backdrop
Introduction
What Do Truth Commissions Do?
The TRC as a Cultural Project
Ritual and Social Change
Cycles of Performance
Methodology and Data
3 Weaving the Threads of a Cultural Trauma: Testimony at the TRC
Introduction
“A Cry from the Soul”
The TRC Hearings as a Ritual Space
In the Theater of the TRC
Setting the Scene
Telling Tales in the TRC
Commissioners as Empathic Interlocutors
Conclusion: Escorting the Narrative
4 Broadcasting the Trauma Drama: The Media as Sympathetic Interpreters
Introduction
Journalists as Sympathetic Interpreters
Performative Aspects: The TRC in the Media
Reaching Beyond: Seeking a Global Center
Conclusion: Giving Voice to Victims
5 Extending the TRC Narrative: Analyzing Positive Audience Response
Introduction
The Register of Reconciliation
Telling Their Stories: Bystanders Respond to the TRC
Acknowledging the Narrative of Apartheid as a Cultural Trauma
Dealing with the Past, Imagining the New
Conclusion: Seeking Solidarity
6 Ramifications and Conclusions
Adapting the Cultural Lens
The Reverberations of the TRC
The Unfinished Business of the TRC
Setting a Narrative Scaffold
Further Study
Conclusions
Appendixes
Appendix A: The Global Spread of Truth Commissions
Appendix B: Summary of Data Sources and Methods
Notes
References
Index
About the Author
