Abstract
Truth Commissions have come to be regarded as a turning point for post-conflict and post-authoritarian states in transition. In this article, I argue that truth commission testimony, broadly defined to include artistic, cultural, and media productions, must be experienced as forms of affective materiality over discursive inscription. Using as an instrumental case study the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (2008–2015), I conceptualize testimony as a necessary re-fictionalization of the past, present, and future of a nation. The truth commission discourse, especially in Canada, works to protect the perpetrators by (1) disallowing their identities from entering into the public record, and (2) creating bystanders out of those perpetrators that allows for an innocent and ineffective witnessing. The push for forgiveness harnesses an imperative for truth commissions to idealize and idolize the emotional moment of testimony. It is imperative to resist the spectacle of confession and testimony. But the witness must not be discarded. The witness must be found in those cultural institutions beyond truth commission events to include the aesthetics of reconciliation.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
