The Politics of Truth and Reconciliation in South Africa by R... - 9780521802192

The Politics of Truth and Reconciliation in South AfricaLegitimizing the Post-Apartheid State\nAuthor(s): Richard A. Wilson\nFormat: Hardback\nPublisher: Cambridge University Press, United Kingdom\nImprint: Cambridge University Press\nISBN-13: 9780521802192, 978-0521802192\nSynopsis\nThe South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was set up to deal with the human rights violations of apartheid during the years [tel]. 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 Af.