Beyond Evidence: The Use of Archives in Transitional Justice

This book critically examines how archives are produced by and used in transitional justice processes such as tribunals, truth commissions, and remembrance processes. It provides conceptual critiques of the transitional justice paradigm and innovations in providing a new lens on archival practices. The authors highlight the activism and emancipatory potential of archives, but also the possibilities of injustices inherent in archival practice. The book links archives to a multitude of transitional justice processes, goals, and ideals, including remembrance, witnessing, reconciliation, non-recurrence, and various struggles against injustices and prevalent violence.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 174 pages
Publication date: 29 January 2024
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Drawing on extensive conceptual debates in transitional justice and critical archival studies, as well as empirical cases from diverse countries worldwide, the contributions in this book critically examine how archives are produced by and utilized in transitional justice processes such as tribunals, truth commissions, and remembrance processes. This edited volume offers a novel perspective on archival practices in transitional justice, providing conceptual critiques of the transitional justice paradigm. In doing so, it delves into in-depth analyses of the intricate relationship between archives and transitional justice in France, Colombia, Rwanda, South Africa, and Northern Ireland. It highlights the significance of truth commission and (international) court archives, as well as personal collections and oral histories, in understanding the complexities of transitional justice.

The authors of this book bring critical archival studies into conversation with transitional justice discourses to shed light on both the activism and emancipatory potential of archives, as well as the potential for injustices inherent in archival practices. Crucially, the book extends beyond merely emphasizing the evidentiary value of archives by linking them to a wide range of transitional justice processes, goals, and ideals, including remembrance processes, witnessing, reconciliation, non-recurrence, and various struggles against injustices and prevalent violence. This collection makes valuable contributions to and expands our understanding of archives in transitional justice, challenging core assumptions about the inherently positive contributions archives and records make in addressing a violent past.

The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of The International Journal of Human Rights.

Weight: 453g
Dimension: 246 x 174 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781032197418