Truth Commission Research Articles

Evaluation of a longitudinal Indigenous health elective in family medicine

Background: In response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada Calls to Action 22 to 24 around health, the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Calgary piloted a novel Indigenous Health Longitudinal Elective (IHLE) to give first year residents longitudinal experiences in Indigenous healthcare environments. The purpose of this evaluation was to capture the successful qualities and identify areas for improvements to ensure feasibility of the IHLE pilot program. Methods: Between November 2022 and April 2023, semi-structured interviews were completed with seven participants of the IHLE and included a mix of residents, preceptors, and clinic staff members. Qualitative thematic analysis was used to gain an in-depth understanding of the IHLE program experiences of all participants. Results: Benefits of the IHLE program include a deeper understanding of the values and priorities critical to working in healthcare with Indigenous peoples in Southern Alberta. Areas for improvement include clarity around IHLE program structure; clearly defining roles and responsibilities for preceptors; increased opportunities for reciprocity and relationality; and a deeper self-reflection process. Conclusion: Recommendations for future iterations of the IHLE include ensuring preceptors are trained and engaged, while providing residents more opportunities for relationality and peer debriefing. Results from this study may also help inform future Indigenous health programming in family medicine.

From colonial time to decolonial temporalities.

In this paper, we critique the colonial conception of time and present alternative decolonial temporalities. We propose that the colonial conception of time, which is linear and scarcity centred, is limiting when it comes to the possibility of contextually theorizing trauma and healing. We offer two main arguments. The first argument explores the discourse around the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in South Africa. Focusing specifically on Winnie Madikizela and F. W De Klerk, we show that in their engagement with the TRC, the linear, scarcity-centred and gendered nature of colonial time was animated. The second argument extends the first argument by considering how temporality is 'captured' by colonialism to foreground and universalize Western subjectivities and sensibilities. We use what Derek Hook calls a psycho-societal-diagnostic framework in conjunction with Fanon to show how subjectivities are structured in post-apartheid South Africa. We then consider how this time-subjectivity relationship is enacted at a geopolitical level. The paper ends by considering decolonial temporalities as a way to 're-cognize' at a collective level. While the paper engages with a series of concepts and ideas, namely capitalism, politics of justice, gender and race, these are threaded by the concept of time.

Depicting truth and transition at national memorial museums in Chile and Peru

Comparative analysis of Peru’s Place of Memory, Tolerance, and Social Inclusion and Chile’s Museum of Memory and Human Rights reveals different perspectives on how to represent past truth commissions and processes of transitioning from violence in national memorial museums. Chile’s Museum of Memory and Human Rights displays a foundational truth about state violence established through the work of the country’s truth commissions. Peru’s Place of Memory, Tolerance, and Social Inclusion was conceived as a space for presenting locally situated experiences of the country’s internal war; it is also characterized by subtle efforts to distance the museum from the narrative of the Peruvian Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Owing in part to such departures, Peru’s Place of Memory, Tolerance, and Social Inclusion offers material for questioning the country’s post-transition present that has generally been absent in the human rights-focused exhibition of the Museum of Memory and Human Rights. An assessment of these contrasts, evident in the museums’ institutional histories and permanent exhibitions, potentially unsettles assumptions about the role of official memorialization in the aftermath of truth commissions.

Hurting or healing? How conflict exposure and trauma (do not) shape support for truth commissions

Truth commissions (TCs) are a much-discussed and sometimes controversial means of establishing sustainable peace. Despite their prevalence and potential, the determinants of public support for TCs, particularly the role of conflict exposure, remain poorly understood. We suggest trauma as a key mechanism through which conflict exposure affects support for TCs. Trauma may lead victims to see TCs as hurting or healing, respectively, which may decrease or increase support. We test these competing hypotheses across Nepal, Guatemala, and Northern Ireland; three post-conflict cases with differing truth-seeking experiences. While conflict exposure predicts trauma in all three cases, trauma only determines support for TCs with tangible implications, and only in Nepal and Northern Ireland. By qualitatively examining context-specific scope conditions, we propose that the prospective closure utility of a specific TC could bolster its support. Future research is needed to probe the validity of this novel theoretical construct.

Truth Telling and Reconciliation in the Pacific: Solomon Islands' Experience

Truth-telling was necessary as part of Solomon Islands’ reconciliation and peace-building process following the violent conflict between 1998 and 2003. When Solomon Islands gained constitutional independence from Great Britain in 1978, the architects of independence did not anticipate that the country would be embroiled in a violent conflict 20 years later. This conflict left the national economy in ruins, the nation-state on the verge of disintegration with law and order in disarray and an Australian-led Pacific Islands Forum regional intervention force was deployed in 2003. The Solomon Islands government later established a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) to address the causes of the conflict and establish sustainable peace. From 2010 to 2012, the TRC facilitated a process of truth-telling that was seen as important to secure reconciliation and peace. The truth-telling process focused on the plight of the victims and perpetrators with limited focus on traumas that were generated due to factors such as governance, socio-economic issues, land alienation and displacement. This article will discuss transitional justice by paying attention to the role of the TRC and the effects that it produced. Given this context, the conversations around truth-telling should recognise the intersection between the colonially prescribed state and Indigenous expressions of sovereignty defined through socio-cultural relationships and protocols.

Beyond the endpoint: the report of the Belgian commission on colonial injustice and the wider tapestry of truth initiatives

ABSTRACT In recent years, Europe has witnessed a surge of truth initiatives to address the legacy of its colonial past as well as the enduring consequences thereof in the present. In the summer of 2020, Belgium became the first European country to establish a historical (truth) commission to investigate the historical and ongoing injustices related to its history of overseas colonialism. In this article, I analyse the report of the Special Parliamentary Commission on the Socio-Economic Impact of Colonialism in Congo, Rwanda, and Burundi, to assess its contribution to broader debates on accountability and transformative change through the lens of disruptive accounts of the past. Additionally, the article explores Belgium’s truth initiatives ecosystem – of which the Commission was part of – to highlight the interplay between official truth-seeking processes and alternative narratives in confronting historical injustices.

Archaeology and a case of genocide: the ‘indigenous prisons’ of Minas Gerais, Brazil

ABSTRACT A 2021 sentence condemned a retired Major of the Military Police of Minas Gerais on charges of genocide against the Krenak people. Between 1969 and 1979, that state’s Military Police established two prisons of exception. The sentence is crucial on the grounds of the enormous human and cultural damage endured by the indigenous peoples of Brazil during the Military Dictatorship of 1964–1985, as established by the Brazilian Truth Commission. This paper discusses an archaeological and anthropological approach to the conditions prevailing at these prisons and attested by some of its survivors. By addressing their form of internment, the slave labour and torture committed at them, this paper will discuss the extent to which such prisons can be considered concentration camps. This article on their archaeological study hopes to make a useful contribution to the archaeology of repression and resistance to that dictatorship.

Onkwehón:we Spirituality and the Reconciliatory Journey in Canadian Education

In recent decades, Onkwehón:we (Indigenous) education has been a burgeoning area of study and practice in primary, secondary, and post-secondary schools in Canada. One of the more significant contributions to this growth in recent years has been the findings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada and its 94 Calls to Action. Central to the journey of reconciliation is understanding of the experiences of Onkwehón:we people and their perspectives on various things. Given that spirituality and associated ceremonial observances are important to many Onkwehón:we communities and have been explored in a number of schools and universities, their inclusion in academic and non-academic school programming merits exploration. This essay explores the importance of Onkwehón:we spirituality, its role in the reconciliatory journey, and the value of enabling schools to partner with Indigenous peoples to aid in its dissemination.

The Dark Side of Infrastructure: Roads, Repression, and Land in Authoritarian Paraguay

Abstract Transportation infrastructure is associated with economic development, but it can also be used for social control and to benefit the governing elite. We explore the connection between the construction of road networks, state-led repression, and illegal land allocations in the longest dictatorship in South America: Alfredo Stroessner’s military regime in Paraguay. Using novel panel data from the truth and reconciliation commission, we show that proximity to newly constructed roads facilitated state-led repression, illegal allocation of agricultural plots to dictatorship allies, and hindered sustainable economic development in the following decades.

Advancing Indigenous primary health care research and education capacity: a qualitative study in Alberta, Canada

Background/Purpose The study explores the perspectives of family physicians in Alberta regarding Indigenous health research education within the framework of primary health care (PHC). Recognizing the key role of PHC in healthcare system, the research identified the preferences and needs of family physicians for relevant and accessible research skills education. To design effective research education, it is critical to understand the skills, content, and delivery methods desired by family physicians engaged in Indigenous health research. The Indigenous Primary Health Care and Policy Research (IPHCPR) Network is examined as a potential transformative platform aligned with Truth and Reconciliation Commission principles and Calls to Action. Methods Through purposive sampling, 12 family physicians practicing in Alberta were recruited to participate in semi-structured qualitative interviews . The study utilized a thematic content approach for data analysis. Results Four key themes emerged from the analysis: 1) Indigenous role modeling; 2) cohort-based learning; 3) relational learning; and 4) the epistemic importance of Indigenous perspectives on learning. Participants emphasized the need for mentorship, collaborative learning settings, and meaningful connections within a research network. Discussion The IPHCPR Network stands out as a pivotal platform for transformative change in healthcare research education, offering opportunities for family physicians, researchers, trainees, and communities to collaboratively improve Indigenous health outcomes. Through its inclusive practices, the network aligns with TRC principles to advance Indigenous health equity and addressing critical gaps in Indigenous primary health research and practice.

Jung’s Recalcitrant Fourth

Abstract This paper enlists Jung’s notion of recalcitrant fourth to argue that, contrary to what some Jungian scholars contend, the work of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) is not illustrative of the transformative process that Jung’s concept of transcendent function aims to illuminate. The TRC created a moral split between redeemed victim and resentful victim, discrediting and marginalising those who refused to reconcile: Winnie Madikizela-Mandela was among them. Where antagonism is not allowed expression, no potential regeneration can take place. The recalcitrant fourth is a disruptor of harmony, and as such feared by the dominant ego position. Nevertheless, Jung cautions not to banish the fourth, as it affords consciousness with a crucial access to the crude realities of existence. Despite her questionable character, Madikizela-Mandela’s resentment should have been taken seriously, as it pointed towards the deeply ingrained social and economic inequalities that still today are cause of resentment among many disillusioned Born Frees.

Overshadowed voices in media reporting on truth-telling commissions

Over the past decades, truth-telling commissions aimed at uncovering, confronting and providing justice for the past treatment of children have been established in many countries, including the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (RCIRCSA 2013-2017) and the Norwegian Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) (2018-2023). Journalism plays important roles both in triggering commissions of inquiry and in attracting public attention to their work and findings. This paper investigates media reporting on the RCIRCSA and the TRC. The Commissions were not similar in scale, scope or legal powers, however, they both generated spaces for public listening to stories about the consequences of past policies and present practices of child removal, abuse and racism that potentially could change the grand narratives of each nation. Our findings suggest that future commissions should pay particular attention to the structural power of news logics and mediation. We find, despite the widely different cases, consistent patterns of uneven and hierarchical media reporting and overshadowing of First Nations voices and aspirations.

The Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI): Did It Help or Harm a Friend?

Helpem Fren, Michael Wesley's diplomatic history of the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI), the Australian-led multilateral intervention in Solomon Islands from 2003–2017, is a near definitive study of the intervention from an Australian perspective. As such, it shares some of the failures of RAMSI itself, such as overconfidence in its success. The reviewer, based on his experience of living in the Solomons during many years of the RAMSI intervention, examines both the strengths and weaknesses of RAMSI and this volume, its semi-official history. These include RAMSI's early success in peacemaking and its more problematic long-term exercise in state building, including its inflexible entrenchment in law and justice, finance, and governance sectors to the exclusion of support for sustainable human development. The reviewer notes areas not dealt with in the book, including RAMSI's cost and its relations with the Solomon Islands Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the churches. While Helpem Fren is an essential study for understanding the Australian role in RAMSI, its strictly Australian perspective calls for further critical study of RAMSI.

Administrative evil and moral disengagement: The case of torture in apartheid‐era South Africa

AbstractUnderstanding how administrators can commit unethical acts is an important goal of public administration research. This article tests whether moral inversion, taken from Balfour, Adams, and Nickels' theory of administrative evil, can help explain torture, and also proposes and tests Bandura's theory of moral disengagement. It analyzes testimony from perpetrators of torture who testified before the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 1996–2000. The results support moral inversion, as perpetrators stated that they believed their actions were morally justified. The results also support displacement of responsibility, as perpetrators shifted responsibility away from themselves and toward actors above or below them in the chain of command. However, the analysis does not support the theory of diffusion of responsibility, as perpetrators did not take the silence of officials outside of their chain of command as approval, but instead anticipated their disapproval and tried to conceal their actions.

Variables influencing truth reconciliation commissions to promote post-conflict peacebuilding and statebuilding in Africa: a South African experience

Truth and reconciliation commissions (TRCs) are understood to offer cheap justice, a justice not bound by the law. South African experience in the post-apartheid era shows that they are significant tools for peacebuilding as well as statebuilding. The experience shows that the use of TRCs has created an authoritative record of what happened; enabled the victims to tell their stories without fear or embarrassment, and recommended legislative, structural and institutional reforms that avoided the repetition of past abuses. Successful peace and statebuilding are based on the above in order to achieve sustainable peace. TRCs promote rule of law, human rights protection, and ensure healing and freedom for all. However, the relapses of conflicts and political tensions, intercommunal hatred and divisions in African countries, create more questions than answers. These continuous issues show that TRCs have instead not resolved conflicts. The paper found that TRCs can only lead to successful peacebuilding and statebuilding if there is willingness on the side of the citizens as well as their political leaders. There is need to learn from the South African experience to ensure that TRCs lead to successful peacebuilding and statebuilding. The paper relied on historical research designed to study TRCs in Africa.

North-South research collaboration during complex global emergencies: Qualitative knowledge production and sharing during COVID-19

Large multinational teams of academics and activist-practitioners that span the Global North-South divide have become common in qualitative research because of the reliance of field of peace and conflict studies on “local” knowledge and expertise. Complex global emergencies, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, present the opportunity to (re)shape and (re)consider these endeavors in key some ways. This article focuses on the involvement of South-based activist-practitioners in three large North-South collaborations, one pre-pandemic (Beyond Words: Implementing Latin American Truth Commission Recommendations), one ongoing when the pandemic began (Gender, Justice, and Security Hub), and one launched during the pandemic (Truth Commissions and Sexual Violence: African and Latin American Experiences). Drawing on center-periphery framework, we adopt an autoethnographic approach, to reflect on how the pandemic has not only reinforced existing structural and institutional asymmetries through reduced funding, professional uncertainty, and personal loss and insecurity but also added some new ethical concerns. This reality has tested both our capacity and commitment to work toward the decolonization of knowledge in the field. In making this argument, we seek to contribute to the discussion on research ethics and the politics of knowledge production and sharing in qualitative peace and conflict research.

Cultural Memory as Selection of the Past: Practices of Oblivion the Study is Conducted Through the Grant of the Russian Science Foundation (RNF) № 23-28-00698

The article examines the role of oblivion in the phenomenon of cultural memory. An analysis is given of oblivion as a sociocultural practice that can “reconcile” different cultural narratives regarding traumatic events from the country’s past. A theoretical understanding is given to the problem of cultural memory as a selection of the past through oblivion, as one of the ways for transforming cultural memory. The types of oblivion in the context of drastic social transformations of society are highlighted using the example of the Chechen Republic. The authors come to the conclusion that in conditions of fragmentation of the political and cultural space, such a path is an important condition for social stabilization through the creation of a common cultural metanarrative. An institution such as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission can serve as a mechanism for eliminating from memory traumatic experiences that threaten to separate the carriers of different narratives.

Commemorating the Events of May 4, 1970 at Kent State University, USA: An Analysis of the Reconciliation Process

On May 4, 1970, American history saw a violent outburst between the US government and anti-Vietnam War demonstrators. On this day, protesters who were unarmed and gathered on the Kent State University campus were opened fire upon by Ohio State National Guardsmen. Four students were dead and nine injured in the span of thirteen seconds. Emotions swept across the USA following the shootings. Discussions concerning the shootings' purpose, significance, and memory are still ongoing. Many memorials have been built in the decades after the May 4th shootings as a way to remember the atrocity. This study aims to provide an overview of the May 4th events at Kent State University and the memorializing process that has occurred on campus. This study describes and analyzes some of the commemorations such as the candlelight walk and vigil, memorials, and their function in the transitioning process. The main discussion of this article revolves around the effectiveness of the assistance given to the victims in their healing journey, the adequacy of the support, and the exploration of other options. Additionally, it explores alternative strategies for healing. Finally, this article offers the establishment of a historical truth commission for promoting the healing process.

Forgotten responsibilities? Nordic truth commissions, Sámi history, and the difficulty of transnational perspectives on historical responsibility

The article studies the Norwegian, Finnish and Swedish truth commissions dealing with state-Sámi (an indigenous population living in northern Scandinavia, Finland and north-western Russia) relations through the concept of transnational historical justice. The fact that three separate commissions are studying the history of the Sámi has been criticized by earlier researchers, but never from the perspective of intergenerational, and more specifically historical justice. Our study of the mandate documents and the report of the Norwegian commission (the only one published in the time of writing of this article) points to constructive ways forward that could acknowledge and better embrace the transnational character of Sámi history, especially in terms of historical justice. We also study in what way the Norwegian commission worked within and stretched the framework set by the mandate document. Our conclusion is that the lack of transnationalism in the mandate and work of the commissions leads to historical Sámi individuals and groups being forgotten. These are historical groups and individuals whose existence does not fit in neatly in the presentist perspective of the commissions, projecting the current nation state borders back in time. For this reason, historical justice toward these groups is also a forgotten issue in the mandate and work of the commissions.

Petitioning and Ghana's National Reconciliation Commission: Good Citizens, Bad Citizens, and Performing the Moral Economy

The 2002–4 National Reconciliation Commission in Ghana sought to reflect upon the country's tumultuous post-independence history. The truth commission received thousands of statements and documents about the lived experiences of Ghanaians during periods of authoritarian rule. This rich and largely unutilized archive is particularly valuable because the holdings of the national archives for these periods are fragmentary. This article will demonstrate that the petitions contained within the National Reconciliation Commission archive represented an active attempt by Ghanaians themselves to reconstitute and reassert a specific moral economy. When read as a genre, these petitions constructed and reconstructed two types of Ghanaians – good citizens and bad citizens – each associated with specific actions, behaviours, and attitudes. When viewed in their totality these petitions represent an articulation of a moral economy which criticized authoritarian rule and attempted to build the foundations of a fair and democratic society.