Description:
Reconciliation is a concept that resists easy definition. Almost invariably invoked in post-conflict peacebuilding and transitional justice, it is just as often resisted and railed against by communities affected by conflict. Whilst there is consensus that reconciliation is about building or rebuilding relationships, there is vast disagreement on what this means and what it might entail. Reconciliation is a contested and historically contingent concept and practice, shaped by tradition and global norms and reframed in local practices.
Rachel Kerr traces the layered meanings and paradoxical nature of reconciliation: the demands to pursue justice and peace; to remember and to forget; to reckon with divisions in the past and to imagine a shared future. With clarity and compassion, she engages with diverse reconciliatory approaches and explores their relationship to peace, justice, forgiveness, truth and repair, memory, art, dialogue and resistance. Drawing on historical vignettes, contemporary case studies and interdisciplinary research, Kerr examines reconciliation's promise and limits as a space to negotiate complexity and contradiction.
Reconciliation is a critical resource for anyone interested in one of the most pressing security challenges of our time.
Review Quotes: "An outstanding achievement, defining reconciliation as a process that must be constantly renewed to meet the unprecedented levels of threats to global peace and security."
Tom Woodhouse, Emeritus Professor, University of Bradford
"Scholars and practitioners grappling with post-atrocity contexts have needed this book for a long time. With characteristic clarity and by appreciating complex, complicating, and even competing perspectives, Kerr brings us closer to understanding reconciliation and what it demands of us."
Mark Kersten, University of the Fraser Valley and Senior Consultant, Wayamo Foundation
"Rachel Kerr's masterful and exceptionally well-written book Reconciliation is a timely, ambitious, and comprehensive contribution to one of the most pressing and most misunderstood concepts in contemporary political life."
Gloria Yayra A. Ayee, Lecturer and Senior Fellow, Harvard University