Transitional Justice and the Reform of History Education

Abstract

Where does history education fit into transitional justice and how can it contribute to the goals of transitional justice? The contemporary understanding of transitional justice has broadened to encompass more than just prosecutions, reparations, preventing impunity, and building rule of law. Transitional justice goals now extend to truth telling, restoring the dignity and preserving the memory of victims, building peace, creating respect for human rights and democracy, and to reconciliation. Tools for achieving these goals now include truth commissions and commemorations. But this list has not until now included how the historical narrative of the group(s) involved in conflict must change as a part of transition; and education, while often invoked when the topic of ‘never again’ is raised, has been largely absent from the transitional justice discourse. Neither the larger education system nor the teaching of history – both what is taught and how – has been considered by the institutions transitional justice has aimed to reform. This article considers why history education matters, what conditions complicate its reform and what recommendations can begin to be offered with regard to the relationship between history education and transitional justice.