Reconciliation Discourse: The Case of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission

Reconciliation Discourse......Page 2
Editorial page......Page 3
Title page......Page 4
LCC data......Page 5
dedication page......Page 6
Table of contents......Page 8
Preface......Page 12
Acronyms......Page 14
1.1 The TRC and discourse?......Page 16
1.3 Theoretical framework......Page 18
1.4 Some general remarks......Page 20
2.1 How it all began......Page 22
2.2 Formal aspects of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission......Page 23
2.3 The TRC ready for operation......Page 25
2.3.1 The Human Rights Violations Committee......Page 26
2.3.2 The Amnesty Committee......Page 29
2.4 The TRC as a favourable phenomenon......Page 31
2.5 Negative critiques on the TRC......Page 34
2.6 Language at the HRV hearings......Page 36
2.7 Discourse at the HRV hearings......Page 40
3.1 The ‘archive’ as a concept......Page 46
3.2.1 Primary data......Page 48
3.2.2 Secondary data......Page 49
3.3 The archive in a Foucaultian sense......Page 51
3.4 Archontic power......Page 54
3.5 A hierarchy of archons......Page 55
3.6 Conclusion......Page 57
4.1 Introduction......Page 58
4.2 Textual data......Page 59
4.3 Audio-visual material......Page 61
4.4 Translating and transcribing......Page 63
4.5 My concrete selection......Page 64
5.1 Introduction......Page 68
5.2.1 Trying to define ideology......Page 69
5.2.2 Ideology through discourse......Page 70
5.2.3 The TRC ideological master narrative......Page 72
5.2.4 Feature One: Introducing reconciliation......Page 74
5.2.5 Feature Two: Stressing national unity/community spirit......Page 87
5.2.6 Feature Three: Respecting testifiers......Page 93
5.2.7 Feature Four: Emphasising emotional discourse......Page 98
5.3.1 Introduction......Page 103
5.3.2 Feature Five: Apartheid-talk......Page 105
5.3.3 Feature Six: Continuity between the past and the present......Page 112
5.3.4 Feature Seven: Audience as actor......Page 116
5.4.1 Introduction......Page 124
5.4.2 Feature Eight: Struggling with an Afrikaner/white identity......Page 125
5.4.3 Feature Nine: Victim-perpetrator identity......Page 132
5.4.4 Feature Ten: Pro-con ANC identity......Page 138
5.5.1 Introduction......Page 144
5.5.2 Mr. Gregory Beck......Page 147
5.5.3 Discussion......Page 150
5.6 Conclusion......Page 154
6.1.1 Introduction......Page 156
6.1.2 Constructing truth through discourse......Page 157
6.1.3 The term ‘reconciliation’ at the TRC victim hearings......Page 158
6.1.4 Ideal versus non-ideal testifiers......Page 161
6.1.5 Accepting various interpretations of reconciliation......Page 166
6.2.1 Introduction......Page 170
6.2.2 Reconciliation discourse pre-TRC......Page 171
6.2.3 Reconciliation discourse after 1995......Page 173
6.2.4 Reconciliation discourse following the Mandela era......Page 175
6.2.5 Reconciliation discourse outside politics......Page 176
6.2.6 A multilayered reconciliation-oriented reality......Page 178
7.1 Introduction......Page 182
7.2 Power and discourse, the contex......Page 183
7.3 The TRC exercised power at the HRV hearings......Page 184
7.4 Power exertion yes, but …......Page 189
7.5 The TRC and power in society......Page 190
7.6 The historical setting of the TRC process......Page 191
7.7 The TRC as a powerful state institution......Page 192
7.8 The TRC as a political instrument?......Page 193
7.9 TRC power and its impact on South African society......Page 196
8.2.1 Methodology......Page 200
8.2.2 Evaluating the TRC?......Page 201
8.2.3 Suggesting vs. concluding......Page 203
8.3 The South African TRC and beyond......Page 204
References......Page 208
Index......Page 244
The series Discourse Approaches to Politics, Society and Culture......Page 254