LAWS 4603: Transitional Justice, Fall 2015 (original) (raw)

Criminal trials, truth and reconciliation commissions, reparations, and redress are mechanisms that states resort to in their effort to attain justice after mass atrocity. These approaches to justice are framed by many as ‘transitional’ because they are evoked during a period of political transformation whereby the new state is looking to legitimize itself whilst forging a democratic order. ‘Breaking with the past’ by acknowledging victims and perpetrators of violence, and ‘re-fashioning the future’ for a traumatized political community underscores transitional justice efforts. Increasingly, memorials are being counted as part of the growing constellation of approaches to post-conflict justice. This course will explain how scholars in the field of transitional justice understand the curious potential of memorials during periods of political transition. It will critically analyze what, where, and how memorials take shape, and the various groups which see the establishment, removal, or defacement of memorials as part of their broader justice seeking effort. Looking beyond parties of the conflict, this course will also consider the various affects of memorials crafted to emotionally discipline global communities as part of a broader ‘never again’ ethos.