The South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) is a modern social drama that enabled the nation's apartheid past to be constructed as a cultural trauma, and by doing so created a new collective narrative of diversity and inclusion. The TRC relied primarily on testimonies from victims and perpetrators of apartheid violence who came forward to tell their stories in a public forum. Rather than simply serving as data for setting the historical record straight, this book shows that it was not only the content of these testimonies but also how these stories were told and what values were attached to them that became significant. Goodman argues that the performative nature of the TRC process effectively designated the past as profane and simultaneously imagined a sacred future community based on democratic idealism and universal solidarity.
- ISBN10 1594512868
- ISBN13 9781594512865
- Publish Date 30 December 2010 (first published 30 January 2009)
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country US
- Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
- Imprint Routledge
- Format Paperback
- Pages 194
- Language English