Collective historical trauma and retelling the past: Toward trauma-informed transitional justice praxis

2021 ◽  
pp. 196-214
Author(s):  
Jeremy A. Rinker
Keyword(s):  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Historical Trauma ◽  
The Past ◽  
Trauma Informed

Legitimation crisis, memory, and United States exceptionalism: Lessons from post-communist Eastern Europe

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (6) ◽  
pp. 1285-1300
Author(s):  
Monica Ciobanu ◽  
Mihaela Şerban
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Historical Trauma ◽  
American Exceptionalism ◽  
The United States ◽  
Crimes Against Humanity ◽  
Historical Narratives ◽  
White Supremacist ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
The Past

The article examines how the experiences of post-communist transitional justice policies could inform current controversies in the United States regarding its reckoning with the past. To lay the ground for this analysis, three facets of American exceptionalism—the dual state reality, the triumphalist myth, and the denialist myth—are identified as principal obstacles that have preempted any substantive reparations for the crimes against humanity perpetrated against enslaved Africans and their descendants. This is followed by a presentation of how the 1989 revolutions in East and Central Europe failed to promote an inclusive and pluralistic model of the past. Instead, current representations of the past rooted in essentialist and ethnocentric historical narratives are weaponized by non-democratic political actors. Finally, the authors caution against misguided representations of historical trauma and memory wars in the United States that could potentially reproduce White supremacist ideologies and escalate existent political and cultural divisions.

Historical and Intergenerational Trauma: Indigenous Populations

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurie A. Walker ◽  
Turquoise Skye Devereaux
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Social Construction ◽  
Settler Colonialism ◽  
Historical Trauma ◽  
Intergenerational Trauma ◽  
Indigenous Populations ◽  
The Social ◽  
Subordinate Group ◽  
Trauma Informed ◽  
Physical And Sexual Abuse

Historical trauma originated with the social construction of subordinate group statuses through migration, annexation of land, and colonialism. The consequences of creating subordinate group statuses include genocide, segregation, and assimilation. Settler colonialism takes land with militaristic control, labels local inhabitants as deviant and inferior, then violently confines and oppresses the original occupants of the land. Confinement includes relocation, restriction of movement, settlement of lands required for sustenance, as well as confinement in orphanages, boarding schools, and prisons. Historical trauma includes suppression of language, culture, and religion with the threat of emotional, physical, and sexual abuse. Original inhabitant abuse often results in issues with health, mental health, substance abuse, and generational emotional, physical, and sexual abuse. Culturally safe (engagement that respects identity) and trauma-informed social work practices acknowledge the systemic causes of disparities in groups experiencing marginalization and oppression and focus on healing and addressing systemic causes of disparities.

scholarly journals Transitional Justice in the Middle East and North Africa – Taking Account of Islam

2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hakeem O. Yusuf
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Significant Role ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Social Transformation ◽  
Cultural Value ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Past ◽  
Justice Process ◽  
Islamic Values

AbstractThe core of the argument of this article is that the integration of Islamic notions of justice into transitional justice mechanisms in the MENA makes for a more viable and sustainable transitional justice process in the region. This would mean a critical cultural value in the MENA is given a place in dealing with the past and mapping out a sustainable future in the region. The argument here is premised on the logic that a social transformation-focused enterprise like transitional justice ought to engage with Islam for sustainable outcomes in societies in the MENA where Islam is very influential. Given the significant role and influence of Islam on cultural, socio-political and legal institutions in the MENA, a process of transitional justice that takes account of Islamic values and practices is important for negotiating justice and institutionalising reforms in societies in the region.

Transitional Justice and Changing Memories of the Past in Central Europe

2013 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-44
Author(s):  
Roman David
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Divided Societies ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Impact

Memories of wrongdoings are often viewed as an obstacle to reconciliation in divided societies. Is it due to the past or the present politics of the past? To examine the dilemma of essentialism versus presentism, this article investigates the impact of transitional justice on memories of wrongdoing. It theorizes that using different transitional justice strategies to deal with the same wrongdoing shapes memories in different ways. The theory is tested via vignette-based surveys in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland, which adopted distinct lustration laws. The results show that wrongdoing is viewed through lustration laws, reflecting present power constellations, not history.

scholarly journals Lustration in Europe and Serbia: The motivation for passing the laws on lustration and their social functions

Sociologija ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 285-306
Author(s):  
Milan Cakic
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Liberal Democracy ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Social Functions ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
The Past ◽  
Historical Justice ◽  
Political Struggles ◽  
Opening Section

The main topic of this article are the motives that led to the adoption of lustration laws in the Czech Republic, Poland, and Serbia, and their social functions. In the opening section, lustration is placed in the wider framework of dealing with the past and two possible approaches to the phenomenon are discussed: to take it as part of the broader process of decommunization, or a measure of transitional justice. In the next section an attempt at defining the concept of lustration is made, with a view to eliminating some ambiguities surrounding it. Subsequently, two partially complementary theoretical models explaining the occurrence, form and severity of dealing with the past and lustration are presented. After that comes the description of the socio-political context at the time of the adoption of lustration laws in the three countries and identification of political and ideological forces that have supported or challenged it. Finally, the article attempts to answer the question whether lustration is a legitimate measure of settling historical justice, overcoming the legacies of socialism, a way to strengthen liberal democracy, or merely a tool in political struggles for power.

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