The Politics of Memory and the Conditions of Testimony: The Dilemma of the Past for Post-Conflict Political Transition

My research aims to address the problem of the politics of memory for post-conflict political transition and how institutional processes of testimony set-up conditions for individual memories of trauma to enter the political arena. This is significant due to the role of testimony as an inherent part of legal and non-legal processes aiding post-conflict political transition. Testimony is commonly perceived by transitional governments and international actors to be understood as an empirical endeavour, a written or spoken statement where by the experience being narrated by a witness can be sufficiently communicated as factual, historical knowledge (Combs 2010, Schabas 2006). However, by constructing a theoretical framework considering the work of Michel Foucault (discourse), Walter Benjamin (messianism) and Giorgio Agamben (witness) will show the necessity for future post-conflict initiatives to understand testimony beyond purely an empirical function.

The thesis’s contention of a lack of understanding of the nature of testimony will be considered in relation to the growing debate on legal pluralism within the transitional justice literature. This is significant as legal pluralism, the multiple implementation of legal initiatives, is largely heralded (Betts 2004, Hinton 2010, Jones 2009,) as an important structure for future processes deployed in post-conflict contexts. Accordingly, legal pluralism including processes of testimony simultaneously facilitates apparent post-conflict norms addressing violations of international law, political stability and also contributing to notions of localised individual and community reconciliation. However, by theorising the nature of testimony and remembering trauma contextualised in post-genocide Rwanda will allow the research to consider to what extent conceptual types of testimony disrupt the common assertion that post-conflict legal institutions are capable of both administering judicial justice and aiding societies in transition?

This presentation will outline the problem and argument the thesis will address. By specifically drawing attention to the researches subsidiary questions, the presentation will highlight the intended audiences the research engages with and the original contribution it will make.