Performing a “new” nation: the role of the TRC in South Africa

Abstract

Introduction This chapter examines the case of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) as an example of a modern ritual of performance that has played a critical role in the transition from Apartheid to democracy. While many observers have characterized the TRC as a legal tool to facilitate political transformation and some have criticized it for failing to provide adequate forms of justice, such approaches miss a significant aspect of the TRC and its impact on South African society. Rather, if we apply a model of social drama, this theoretical perspective allows us to focus on how the TRC testimonies helped to frame Apartheid as a “cultural trauma” (Alexander 2002, 2004; Eyerman 2001, 2004; Giesen 2004) that required acknowledgment and demanded repair. Moreover, the social drama model reveals the way in which the TRC opened a space for the creation of a new national identity, one which rested on a recognition of bonds of solidarity. In this chapter, I will show that the TRC is an unusual case of cultural performance because it is one that referred to and inspired universal rather than exclusive group affirming principles. And, I will argue that it was a successful performance in that it offered not only a catharsis, but also a pathway to new definitions of belonging and was therefore transformative.