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How and why did Kenya's transitional justice efforts fail, and what does this say about the persistence of the past?
List of contents
Part I. Haunted by Violence: Prologue. A time of violence; 1. Confronting the past: transitional justice and the politics of time and performance; 2. Framing the good citizen for orderly elections: the prioritisation of peace; 3. Enter the International Criminal Court: performing (in) justice; Part II. A Post-South African Truth Commission: 4. The Truth, Justice, and Reconciliation Commission: a sense of once-againness; 5. Public hearings: bringing the audience back in; 6. Truth's grand narrative (part I): of injustice and suffering; 7. 'It is because your tribe is women': of the performance of familiar gender roles; 8. Truth's grand narrative (part II): of injustice and impunity; 9. 'Only talking won't help:' of justice and reparations; Part III. Familiar Performances: 10. Performed ruptures: Whither reconciliation.
About the author
Gabrielle Lynch is a Professor of Comparative Politics at the University of Warwick, and her research interests include ethnic identities and politics, elections and democratisation, and transitional justice and local reconciliation efforts with a particular focus on Kenya. Gabrielle has published numerous journal articles and book chapters. Her first book, I Say to You: Ethnic Politics and the Kalenjin in Kenya, was published in 2011. Gabrielle is an elected member of council for the British Institute in Eastern Africa, and has written a regular column in Kenya's Saturday Nation since April 2014.
Summary
The two classic transitional justice mechanisms introduced by Kenya following the unprecedented violence in 2007/8 are widely believed to have failed, but why? Using the lens of performance, Gabrielle Lynch analyses how the efforts introduced were incapable of dealing with how unjust and violent pasts actually persist.
