Political Subjectivation, Generation, and Postmemory: Understanding the Activists of the 2011 Chilean Student Movement

Analysis of the life stories of three activists involved in the 2011 student mobilization in Chile reveals a particular articulation of the painful memories of their parents, who had been political radicals before or during the Pinochet dictatorship, that allowed them to build a perspective on their own struggle and develop effective narratives that fueled their activism. The research sheds light on the nature of postmemory and political subjectivation in transitional societies. El análisis de las historias de vida de tres activistas involucrados en la movilización estudiantil de 2011 en Chile revela una particular articulación de los dolorosos recuerdos de sus padres, quienes fueran radicales políticos antes o durante la dictadura de Pinochet. Esto les permitió construir una perspectiva sobre su propia lucha y desarrollar narrativas efectivas para alimentar su activismo. La investigación se enfoca en la naturaleza de la posmemoria y la subjetivación política en las sociedades en transición.

El pragmatismo de Deweyan y el desafío de institucionalizar la justicia en circunstancias transitorias

For the past thirty years, the Transitional Justice (TJ) research program has been undergoing a period of transition, simultaneously expanding and consolidating; in one sense, expanding its scope to encompass the measurement of TJ’s impact and the redefinition of ‘transitional’ to include societies afflicted by deep social and economic injustice; and in a second sense, consolidating its practical approach to the promo-tion of democracy and peace, by developing best practices for institutionalizing TJ. While there have been advances in designing new TJ mechanisms and remedying the concept’s under-theorization, little comparative progress has been made, to date, in offering a guiding framework for TJ’s push to institutionalize. The thesis of this article is that philosophical pragmatism, specifically Deweyan pragmatism, offers a bevy of resources —a virtual tool-kit— for scholars and practitioners wishing to design TJ-friendly institutions within transitional societies.

Rupture and Continuity: Abortion, the Medical Profession, and the Transitional State—A Polish Case Study

Taking Poland as a case study, this article examines the sociological and historical-institutional factors that determine the relationship between the process of medical professionalisation and reproductive rights in transitional societies. Focusing on three periods in Polish history, (a) Partition era (1772–1918), (b) the Second Polish Republic (1918–1939), and (c) the post-war period (1945–1989), it identifies ruptures and continuities that have shaped the development of the Polish medical profession and its attitude towards abortion care today. Using insights from feminist historical institutionalism, abortion studies, and the sociology of professions, the article applies the concept of ‘dialectical transformations’ to explain institutional and policy reproduction and change over time. It shows how professional and legal institutions are often transferred from one systemic context to another by individuals or organisations whose positions move from opposition to dominance. Understanding such processes is especially important in light of the retrenchment of reproductive rights across the globe.

‘Let Me Tell You’: Transitional Justice, Victimhood and Dealing with a Contested Past

This article explores the intersection between the politics and construction of victimhood in transitional societies and the use of truth recovery as a platform for the creation of hierarchies of truth. It explores how, in a context of contested victimhood and an unresolved past, the ‘political currency’ of victimhood may lead to the domination and embellishment of certain voices and narratives and the concurrent silencing of others. As this article will then demonstrate, when applied to the debate on truth recovery, the capturing of victims’ voice and agency can manifest in a damaging ‘truth as trumps’ dynamic and recourse to ‘whataboutery’ in which one call for truth or the recovery of truth as significant to one side of the community is countered by that of a more ‘significant’ or more ‘important’ truth on the part of the other. The paper argues for the inculcation of a culture political generosity in transitional contexts as a way to begin to ameliorate these challenges.

The Prospects for Customary Law in Transitional Justice: The Case of Fiji

The use of customary law shows real promise in addressing the challenges that arise when confronting the legacies of past human rights abuses and atrocities. Unlike typical transitional justice mechanisms like trials, truth commissions, and reparations programs, customary practices are community-based and well-known to the people who use them. Indeed, customary practices could be used in transitional societies in place of “foreign” practices to bring about the same objectives. This paper considers the role that customary law plays in Fiji. It further assesses the prospects for the use of customary, traditional law in situations where transitional justice is called for.