Accounting for which violent past? transitional justice, epistemic violence, and colonial durabilities in Burundi

IF 1.3 Q2 ANTHROPOLOGY Critical African Studies Pub Date : 2022-01-02 DOI:10.1080/21681392.2022.2039733
Astrid Jamar
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引用次数: 2

Abstract

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in Burundi has been mandated to account for colonial and post-colonial violence. To examine such accountability efforts, I deploy a decolonial and legal anthropological approach. Through fieldwork in Burundi, I examine the entanglements between violence, accountability, and coloniality; how specific dynamics of violence and hegemonized norms operate within transitional justice (TJ) practices; and by implication how colonial durabilities reproduce themselves. I document three key findings. First, TJ professionals consolidate hegemonic but contested norms to articulate TJ agendas; norms that then gradually ‘slip’, i.e. the gradual weakening of normative commitments moving the burden of accountability from the State to alleged beneficiaries. Second, regular TJ activities reproduce hierarchies of knowledges marked by the epistemic supremacy of Western legalism and power asymmetries; while side-lining political struggles fought through accountability efforts. Third, criticisms of colonialism have been instrumentalised by the ruling regime through the work of the TRC itself, while violence continues to be used to repress political opponents. Overall, I argue that due to the durable effects of colonialism, the Burundian TRC simultaneously accounts for and inflicts violence. Specifically, as TJ professionals adopt texts and run activities that consolidate hegemonized norms, reproduce colonial tropes and take part in strengthening authoritarianism, colonial logics inform whose norms and knowledge matter, thus inflicting epistemic violence.
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解释哪一个暴力的过去?布隆迪的过渡司法、认知暴力和殖民持久性
布隆迪真相与和解委员会(真相与和解委员会)的任务是查明殖民时期和后殖民时期的暴力行为。为了检验这种问责努力,我采用了一种非殖民化和法律人类学的方法。通过在布隆迪的实地考察,我审视了暴力、问责制和殖民主义之间的纠缠;暴力和霸权化规范的具体动态如何在过渡司法实践中运作;这暗示了殖民地的持久性是如何自我繁殖的。我记录了三个主要发现。首先,TJ专业人士巩固了霸权但有争议的规范,以阐明TJ议程;然后逐渐“滑落”的规范,即规范性承诺逐渐减弱,将问责的负担从国家转移到所谓的受益者。其次,正规的TJ活动再现了以西方法家主义的知识至上和权力不对称为标志的知识等级;一边是政治斗争,一边通过问责努力进行斗争。第三,对殖民主义的批评已经通过TRC本身的工作被统治政权利用,而暴力继续被用来镇压政治对手。总的来说,我认为,由于殖民主义的持久影响,布隆迪的TRC同时解释和施加暴力。具体而言,当TJ专业人员采用文本并开展巩固霸权化规范、复制殖民修辞和参与强化威权主义的活动时,殖民逻辑告知谁的规范和知识重要,从而造成认知暴力。
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来源期刊
Critical African Studies
Critical African Studies Arts and Humanities-Arts and Humanities (all)
CiteScore
3.00
自引率
0.00%
发文量
19
期刊介绍: Critical African Studies seeks to return Africanist scholarship to the heart of theoretical innovation within each of its constituent disciplines, including Anthropology, Political Science, Sociology, History, Law and Economics. We offer authors a more flexible publishing platform than other journals, allowing them greater space to develop empirical discussions alongside theoretical and conceptual engagements. We aim to publish scholarly articles that offer both innovative empirical contributions, grounded in original fieldwork, and also innovative theoretical engagements. This speaks to our broader intention to promote the deployment of thorough empirical work for the purposes of sophisticated theoretical innovation. We invite contributions that meet the aims of the journal, including special issue proposals that offer fresh empirical and theoretical insights into African Studies debates.
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