Browsing by Author "Scanlon, Helen"
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- ItemOpen AccessA Tribute to Ray Alexander 1913 - 2004(2005) Scanlon, HelenI remember reacting very strongly to the Jewish prayer [which Orthodox Jewish men say] in the morning, “Thank you God for making me a man and not a woman”. I don't know whether I was five years old or six ... but I refused to accept this prayer (Suttner, 1997: 43). By the time of her death on 12 September 2004, Ray Alexander was known around the world as a prominent agitator for political and human rights in apartheid South Africa. Her name had become synonymous with the Food and Canning Workers Union and the Federation of South African Women. In spite of 25 years of exile from South Africa (between 1965 and 1990), Alexander remained a consistent force in radical politics, eventually becoming the longest serving Communist Party functionary in South Africa. There were many facets to Ray's life: the young Zionist, the revolutionary, the trade unionist, the Communist Party activist, and the exile. In all these roles, she displayed a unique and progressive approach to the status of women in South Africa.
- ItemOpen AccessAchieving sustainable peace in Worcester(2013) Snyman, Deon; Scanlon, Helen
- ItemOpen AccessAshes scattered in the wind: The Romanies as Marginalised Victims of Racial Persecution, Genocide and the Holocaust(2019) Botha, Robynne; Scanlon, HelenThe experiences of the Romanies on the European continent have been marked by centuries of prejudice, abuse, slavery and murder. Central to this history of oppression is the Nazi regime’s racial persecution and genocide of the Romanies during the Holocaust. However, in the Federal Republic of Germany, the devastating experiences of the Romanies during the Holocaust received minimal attention in the decades that followed. As such, this thesis aims to answer the question: Did the transitional justice process in the Federal Republic of Germany, in the aftermath of the Third Reich, fail Romanies as victims of racial persecution, genocide and the Holocaust? It provides an overview of the suffering experienced by the Romanies at the hands of the Nazi regime, situating their plight within the framework of racial persecution, genocide and the Holocaust. It then analyses how this was addressed by the transitional justice process undertaken in the Federal Republic of Germany after the fall of the Third Reich, focusing on the mechanisms of retributive justice, as well as material and symbolic reparations. Examining how, within each of these mechanisms, Romanies were marginalised as victims, the thesis illustrates that the transitional justice process did indeed fail them. In addition, it broadens the discussion by looking at how Romaphobia is both a cause and a consequence of this marginalisation. As such, the thesis illustrates how the transitional justice process also failed Romanies by not denouncing Romaphobia, but rather inadvertently reinforcing it, thus being partly to blame for the continued presence of Romaphobia in the Federal Republic of Germany. In so doing, the thesis highlights the importance of redressing the wrongs committed against victims, emphasising the need for transitional justice mechanisms in the aftermath of violence and human rights abuses.
- ItemOpen AccessBetween a Rock and a hard Place Exploring Xenophobia and Voluntary Refugee Repatriation in South Africa(2021) Görgmeier, Anne Juliane Ulrike; Scanlon, HelenIn October 2019, thousands of migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers took the streets in Cape Town and Pretoria to publicly express their dissatisfaction with their living and protection conditions in South Africa. The protests erupted one month after a series of xenophobic incidents in several urban areas. While Pretoria protests dissolved quickly, the Cape Town sit-in protests were only cleared in early 2020. In both cities, protesters claimed that poor living conditions, a lack of access to services and a constant fear of xenophobic violence and harassment had made it unbearable for them to sustain their lives in South Africa. Refugees and asylum-seekers therefore demanded improved protection and the resettlement to a safer third country. Third country resettlement forms one of the three durable solutions for refugee situation as defined by the UNHCR, besides local integration and voluntary repatriation. The South African government and the UNHCR, however, made it clear that third country resettlement could not be considered a solution for a majority of South Africa's refugees and asylum-seekers. With local integration equally failing the forced migrants in South Africa, voluntary repatriation may by default be their only option left. This study aims to explore the relation between xenophobia and voluntary refugee repatriation in a South African context. The fear of xenophobic violence that was expressed by the 2019 protesters raises doubt about South Africa's ability to meet the UNHCR's standards of refugee protection. At the same time, it compromises the protection measure of temporary local integration as outlined in the South African 1998 Refugee Act. This study will therefore explore he connection between conditions of asylum in South Africa and the decision-making process on repatriation by refugees and asylum-seekers. This study aims to contribute to better the understanding of conditions and dynamics that lead to spontaneous voluntary repatriation in refugee situations.
- ItemOpen AccessChildren, youth and transitional justice in Northern Uganda(2013) Luehe, Ulrike; Scanlon, HelenWith the end of the Lord’s Resistance Army conflict in northern Uganda, efforts of dealing with the violent past and paving the way for a more just, peaceful future are now taking shape in Uganda and especially the northern region. Existing frameworks and proposals for transitional justice emphasize traditional justice, the option of establishing a truth commission, formal justice and reparations most prominently. Despite the strong involvement of children and youths in the conflict – as victims and perpetrators – their inclusion in, needs for and expectations of transitional justice have barely been explored or acknowledged. This thesis thus aims at exploring ways in which formerly abducted children can be included in such processes in meaningful ways that accommodate for their needs and preferences. Since the existing research and literature on the field of child soldiers and transitional justice is rather limited, field work has been conducted in northern Uganda in November and December of 2012. A total of 17 people were interviewed representing a variety of local, national and international organizations as well as government agencies specializing in the fields of transitional justice or child protection, and rehabilitation of former child soldiers. Semistructured interviews with open-ended questions were conducted and the gathered qualitative data was used to substantiate, complement or fill gaps in the existing body of research on the topic. The findings of this thesis conclude that there is a need for comprehensive, inclusive transitional justice mechanisms that acknowledge former abductees in their dual role as victims and perpetrators. A desire for active government involvement and participation in these processes has been emphasized strongly. The research has furthermore shown the need for transitional justice mechanisms to foster agency and the empowerment of formerly abducted children and youths in order to enable them to become active, resourceful members of their communities.
- ItemOpen AccessDignity Takings and Dignity Restoration of Indigenous Peoples in Settler Colonial Canada: A qualitative analysis of the transformative potential of free, prior and informed consent(2019) Posselwhite, Kaitlyn; Scanlon, HelenThe ongoing reconciliation process in Canada has been criticized for failing to recognize the larger project of ongoing settler colonialism and for its inability to meaningfully respond to the aspirations and demands of Indigenous peoples for self-determination. However, in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s final report, the important recommendation was made for Canada to adopt the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the most accomplished proclamation of Indigenous peoples’ rights, especially their right to selfdetermination, as the framework for reconciliation in the country. Following the Commission’s recommendation, the Canadian government committed itself to implementing the Declaration, including its free, prior and informed consent requirement, into the country’s legislation. This is significant for settler colonial violence in Canada continues to manifest itself in a multitude of ways, including through imposed resource extraction projects and environmental violence, which dispossesses Indigenous peoples of their land, violating their right to self-determined social, cultural and economic development, and thus, denying them their dignity. Through an application of Atuahene’s theoretical framework of Dignity Takings and Dignity Restoration, this dissertation conceptualizes eliminatory resource exploitation projects and associated environmental violence as dignity takings in a settler colonial context, whereby Indigenous peoples are dispossessed of their land, as well as their right to self-determination. It then explores the potential role the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples free, prior and informed consent requirement, which affirms that Indigenous people should make decisions on matters affecting their lands and/or people, can have for meaningfully restoring Indigenous peoples’ dignity, and thereby affirming their unqualified right to self-determination in settler colonial Canada. The findings demonstrate that while the free, prior and informed consent requirement’s regulatory and normative framework at the international level has the potential to meaningfully restore dignity to Indigenous peoples in theory, an assessment of the requirement’s implementation in the Canadian context reveals the considerable influence national politics and institutional norms have in shaping the requirement’s effective implementation, operationalization and dignity restoring potential.
- ItemOpen AccessDisplaced persons in South Sudan - whose responsibility to protect?(2016) Henderson-Howat, Fenella; Scanlon, HelenThere have been severe shortcomings in the protection of internally displaced persons (IDPs), and gaps in research with academic and legal focus remaining on refugees instead. These gaps are revealed and correspondingly explored in this thesis through a case study analysis of South Sudan. The main objective of this thesis is to expose the overall protection discrepancies facing IDPs, and the need to re-address international responsibility to protect in cases where national authorities are unable or unwilling to do so. The lack of a clear definition, legal status and institutional framework at an international level is shown to have an adverse impact on protection. The case study of South Sudan is introduced through an overall analysis of key events and displacement trends. Evidence in support of the main argument is presented through an analysis of the injustices and human rights violations facing IDPs in South Sudan. The roles of the two major providers of protection in South Sudan - the national authorities and the international community - are evaluated to ultimately show how a more flexible approach must be adopted by the international community in such cases. Overall, this thesis seeks to bring the displaced in South Sudan to the forefront of the debate about who is responsible for their protection.
- ItemOpen AccessDisruptive bodies and peripheral politics: How naked protests disrupt the patriarchal public sphere(2021) Gassiep, Fadlah; Scanlon, HelenOn 4 October 2016, three black female students at the University of Witwatersrand (hereafter Wits) in Johannesburg, South Africa staged a naked protest to call for a ceasefire during the peak of the #FeesMustFall (FMF) protests. The FMF movement emerged in late 2015 as a student revolt against costly higher education fees especially for black students in South Africa. Armed police fired rubber bullets, stun grenades, and teargas to stop ongoing FMF protests which shut down university operations as students vowed to protest until all their demands were met. Within this context, the three female students at Wits University stood topless and formed a buffer zone between mostly male protesting students and the police. The method of protest was however mostly received with condemnation by the public and received widespread attention on social media platforms where the focus shifted from the central issues that sparked the naked protest to predominantly body shaming the women and questioning their morality (Ndlovu, 2017:68). This response to the naked protest therefore raised questions around the continuous policing of women's bodies and the patriarchal structure of public space where naked protests are performed. This thesis will use the 2016 naked protest that took place during violent FMF clashes between the police, private security, and students at Wits University as a lens to explore the ways in which naked protests have been used as an empowering tool to challenge men and authorities in violent contexts. It will draw on the 1990 naked protest in Soweto in South Africa, the 2002 naked peace protest in Liberia, and the 2002 anti-oil naked protest in Nigeria to illustrate the trajectory of naked protests in different African societies and the unique ways in which women's nakedness and undress has been perceived with apprehension in these societies. The central question that this thesis intends to explore is why do naked protests by women in African societies trigger apprehension in bystanders and black authoritarian male figures? I argue that it is a powerful form of protest, beyond cultural symbolisms attached to senior black women's bodies, as it subverts patriarchal mores underpinned in public space that delineates when and how black women can be seen in the public domain. I argue that it also provides the space for black women to assert their presence in protest movements and broader society which is typically unappreciated and overlooked. The point is to illustrate how naked protests ultimately undermines patriarchal mores and essentially invalidates colonial ideologies that renders the black female body socially invisible.
- ItemRestrictedGender and the Politics of Reconciliation(2016-06) Scanlon, HelenTwenty-two years into South Africa’s democracy debates have re-emerged over the limitations of discourses on reconciliation in the country. This stems from the fact that in the two decades since South Africa’s rst free and fair elections a widening chasm has emerged between the promises of “reconcilation” and the realities of on-going widespread poverty and inequalities. Indeed, South Africa’s beleaguered transformation is particularly apparent in terms of the prevalent level of gender-based violence, often cited as the highest in the world, as well as the ongoing feminisation of poverty. As such, important questions have arisen following South Africa’s transition over what is needed for a “gender-inclusive” reconciliation. Reconciliation, while a contested term, can potentially ful l a number of practical and symbolic purposes of acknowledging the harm in icted upon victims and promoting social equity and human rights. According to gender activists effective reconciliation has the potential to facilitate post-con ict transformation of socio-cultural injustices and inequalities which inevitably will promote greater gender equality. Nonetheless critiques of reconciliation have centred on it being elite driven, that it bene ts particular interest groups and that it imposes undue burden on victims for the restoration and transformation of society. Furthermore it is argued that it has contributed to shifts in the “geography of violence” resulting in the increase of interpersonal violence. This paper explores how attempts to confront abusive pasts have deliberated gender in the promotion of reconcilation. In particular it will examine the nexus between gender justice and reconciliation in order to assess and considers ways to re-calibrate engagement with ongoing reconciliation processes. Given current debates over revisiting the promise of reconciliation in South Africa it is an opportune time to re ect on how reconciliation could better confront histories of gendered harms.
- ItemOpen AccessHome and national belonging : narratives of Zimbabwean middle class women in Cape Town(2014) Hadebe , Rutendo; Scanlon, HelenThis research is an analysis of narratives collected from Zimbabwean black middle class women residing in the South Africa’s coastal city of Cape Town. The narratives construct and locate participants in the main South Africa xenophobia immigration discourse. The research attempts to answer the question: How do mainstream discourses of migration shape Zimbabwean Black middle class migrant women’s narratives of home and belonging in Cape Town? The women participants in this research self-identify as middle class and have lived in Cape Town for years ranging from three to 22. The women produced subjective knowledges around key themes of otherness, representations of belonging, identity formation and gender roles in new spaces, all which aim at aligning and enriching the main dominant discourses around Zimbabwean women immigrants and their experiences of exclusion and belonging. The women’s narratives provide an opportunity for a more nuanced understanding and analysis of the migration phenomenon. The research simultaneously engages in power analysis along key inequality contours of gender, race, ethnicity and class and ascertains their transformation or reinforcement within the discourses. The findings of this research resonate with post-modern notions of knowledge which frame it as fragmented, locked in individuality and discursive, while being oppositional to knowledge anchored in objective positivism. This research therefore celebrates alternative ways of framing which are accommodative and willing to give voice to fragmented, gendered, subjective and emotive agency of women. The women participants are viewed as active participants in migration processes and in this particular case, as provider of new insights into counter grand migration and xenophobia discourses.
- ItemOpen Access‘Imagining' the Rohingya: Navigating Identity, Memory, and Visibility Examining different methods of documenting Rohingya identities, experiences, and lives.(2023) Bose, Sumona; Scanlon, HelenOn the 25th of August 2017, the Myanmar military, Tatmadaw, launched a systematic orchestration of what the UN described as a ‘textbook example of ethnic cleansing' of the stateless minority group, the Rohingya residing in the Northern Rakhine region of Myanmar. Since August 2017, more than 700 000 Rohingya fled from Myanmar to Bangladesh. Apart from the gross human rights violations they have suffered from decades long persecution, there is a persistent concern over their loss of identity, culture and personhood. This thesis serves as an explanatory investigation of the complex narratives, memories and experiences of Rohingya lives. It emphasises the importance of socio-cultural interventions conducted through multidisciplinary initiatives aimed at mobilising memory work, that are intended to act as a tool for the Rohingya as a means to navigate their identity and memory politics, agency and advocacy. The need for recognition, dignity, and forms of healing through trauma has been instrumental in resisting the cultural destruction they have endured. This thesis focuses on the accessible modes of acknowledgement that enhances the Rohingya community's visibility by sharing their stories, memories and experiences through memory initiatives considering the prevailing context of exile and uncertainty of return or redress. Memorialisation as a sociocultural and cathartic process has been an important tool of healing, awareness, and dialogue for the Rohingya survivors. By focusing on memory initiatives that have grown from Cox's Bazar with active participation from the Rohingya community themselves, this thesis explores the necessary intervention of deconstructing marginalisation as the dominant positionality of the Rohingya identity.
- ItemOpen AccessInternational Responses to Health Epidemics: An Analysis of Global Health Actors' Responses to Persistent Cholera Outbreaks in Harare, Zimbabwe.(2020) Nyaruwata, Chido; Scanlon, HelenCholera is a diarrhoeal disease caused by the infection of the intestine with bacterium vibrio cholera. The diarrhoeal disease is a recurrent feature of Zimbabwe's post 1990s history. From 1993 to 2018, the country has experienced several cholera outbreaks in both rural and urban areas. The country's worst cholera outbreak occurred in 2008/2009 and resulted in over 4000 deaths. The dissertation analyses three global health actors' responses to persistent cholera outbreaks in Harare, the capital city of Zimbabwe. Building on previous scholarship of water, cholera and politics, the dissertation compares global health actors' responses to the 2008/2009 and September to November 2018 cholera outbreaks. The dissertation used the qualitative research method including analysis of existing academic literature, Zimbabwean national legislation, non-governmental organisation (NGO) publications and conference reports, news articles and Zimbabwean government policy documents. In-depth interviews with personnel from the World Health Organisation, United Nations Children's Fund, Médecins Sans Frontierès (Doctors without Borders) and the Harare City Council Health Department were conducted in Harare, Zimbabwe from June to July 2019. The dissertation demonstrates that the scope and speed of global health actors' emergency cholera interventions in Harare are shaped by Zimbabwe's political climate and the state of Harare's health, water and sanitation infrastructure.
- ItemOpen Access“Je Cherche La Vie!”: Women's Labour Politics in Masisi's Artisanal Coltan Mines(2021) Furniss, Allison; Benya, Asanda; Scanlon, HelenIn considering how women navigate the complexity and gendered aspects of the artisanal mining industry, this study seeks to unpack women's labour at step one of the global supply chain of coltan, in the post-conflict context of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Female miners are largely excluded from mine work by blurry regulatory frameworks, gendered social norms and financial disparities, however they manage to remain active labourers in the artisanal mining industry. Within a broader socio-political context of poverty, political instability and rural livelihoods, women maintain access to mine work through strategies, often premised on a gendered solidarity, such as organizing into collectives, engaging in small group collaborations and employing creative ruses to maintain the secrecy of their labour. This thesis seeks to analyze women's exclusions from mine work and the subsequent strategies they employ to circumvent those exclusions and maintain work in the mines. Based on three months of ethnographic fieldwork at artisanal coltan mine sites in Masisi Territory in the province of North Kivu, this study employs ethnographic observations, focus group and interview methodologies.
- ItemOpen AccessThe politics of memorialisation in Namibia: reading the Independence Memorial Museum(2018) Stonehouse, Alexandra; Scanlon, HelenThe Independence Memorial Museum is the latest addition to the post-independence memorial landscape by Namibia’s ruling party, South West African People’s Organisation (or the Swapo Party). Like many other southern African liberation movements turned ruling political parties, Swapo has looked towards history to find legitimation and support in the present. This is referred to in this research as the creation of a Swapo master narrative of liberation history. It is a selective and subjective re-telling of history which ultimately works to conflate Swapo with the Nation. As such, Swapo has been portrayed as the sole representative and liberator of the Namibian people, and anything which effectively contradicts this has been silenced or purposefully forgotten within official or public history. This study takes as its starting point the removal of the colonial era Rider Statue in 2009, to make way for the new museum. The site, a significant landmark with regards to the Herero and Nama genocide, had remained effectively untouched both pre and post-independence as the city built up around several German colonial monuments. In order to understand why such a change in the memorial landscape would occur, and in a turnaround from the National Policy of Reconciliation that opted to protect all historical monuments as heritage after independence, this study looks to the Swapo master narrative of liberation history to explain the motivations behind building an Independence Memorial Museum. As such, the museum was thematically analysed with reference to the master narrative, and it was found that the same inclusions and exclusions, emphases, and silences were continued and consolidated within the museum. This study considers what narrative is put forward by the museum and why, and contemplates what opportunities were lost. The continued silences within Namibian official history constitute a sustained injustice to the people of Namibia.
- ItemOpen AccessPolitics of reparations: unravelling the power relations in the Herero/Nama genocide reparations claims(2019) Brock, Penohole; Scanlon, HelenThe Herero/Nama Genocide (1904-1908) under German colonialism in Namibia is the first genocide of the twentieth century and has stirred debates around reparations for historical injustices. Reparative Justice has evolved into a victim-centric pillar of justice, in which perpetrators are legally and morally obligated to pay reparations in its several forms to its victims, including material and symbolic reparations. This thesis is a case study of reparations claims for historical injustices, specifically colonial genocide and explores such claims as a political process. Firstly, defining victims of genocide is a political process in which colonial atrocities have been blanketed by a lawless cover, previously ignoring the rights of the former colonised. The acknowledgement of genocide victims is a not only a necessary step to claiming reparations, but is part of Reparative Justice in which the perpetrator recognises its victims, offers a formal apology and make amends to the victims’ satisfaction. The acknowledgement of the Herero and Nama as victims of genocide has taken over a century for the German government to admit. Secondly, reparations claims is a political process in which requests are demanded and/or negotiated between perpetrator and victim. Germany’s previous foreign policy avoided terms such as 'genocide’ and 'reparations’, which has been a form of colonial amnesia. Namibian actors cannot easily forget the weight of the genocide and have had to negotiate and demand overdue justice in the face of colonial amnesia. Victim groups often do not speak with one voice, as noted in the Herero group, which is divided into general two camps: the Riruako group and the Maherero group. Under Paramount Chief Riruako, and his successor Rukoro, the Ovaherero Traditional Authority (OTA) have made several reparations claims to Germany over the last three decades. The Namibian government has previously played an unsupportive role, due to Germany’s annual development aid, which has undermined the position of the Riruako group. However, Riruako’s Motion on the Ovaherero Genocide in 2006, was unanimously passed and requested that the Namibian government facilitates negotiations between Germany and representatives of the affected communities. The two governments have since entered formal negotiations on how to address the past, however this has been resented by the OTA and some reparations organisations, who argue that the Namibian government have taken the lead on negotiations, rather than facilitate them. Those participating in government negotiations are the Maherero group, and those who have refused to join is the Riruako group, who have lodged a lawsuit in 2017 against the German government for reparations. In 2015, the German government admitted that its shared history with Namibia involved genocide. However, this acknowledgement has transferred limited power to the Namibian actors who continue to be undermined as 'equal’ counterparts to the German government. The German government continue to negotiate on their terms of redress, and have claimed state immunity towards the lawsuit. Therefore, there are small traces of colonial amnesia in Germany’s conduct despite its recent change in foreign policy.
- ItemOpen AccessReclaiming histories: The resounding call issued through the Simonites culturally-marginalised memory of the apartheid forced removals(2024) Solomons, Anastasia Joan; Scanlon, HelenProduced with the intent to link the consciousness of the classified coloured Simonites to the needs presented by their physical surroundings, this study presents a poststructuralist critique of the post-apartheid culture of race. It invokes the Simonites' production of a living, inclusive and diversified archive as a disruptor to the existing colonial and apartheid power relations that structure social interactions. The study deploys oral history as a methodology due to its fluid administering of historical production. This study is a testament to the Simonites' agency pertaining their reclaimed histories and personhoods. These phenomena are intentionally pluralised to oppose a singularised, state-imposed culture of race that culturally-marginalises memories, histories and identities. An analysis of the Simonites' memory of the apartheid forced removals reveals that their memory is framed to meet a present cultural demand. Namely, the need to transform their culturally-marginalised social position as administered by the rainbow identity and subsequent citizenship status. Reclaimed histories are transformative to the extent that it produces a re-envisioned humanity that subverts existing power relations and appeals to greater society. A subversion of power relations reinvigorates a sense of belonging, broadens the recipients of state obligations and epistemologically undermines the dominance of racial discourse in a post-apartheid context. Therefore, this study supports an emerging discourse that posits Simon's Town as an ancestrally-diverse heritage landscape to which belonging and a unique history is claimed.
- ItemOpen AccessRedressing Social Inequality through Transitional Justice(2019) Venter, Ben-Joop; Scanlon, HelenBy questioning whether addressing social inequality can be considered a form of transitional justice, this dissertation leads a critical discussion on the assumptions of traditional or narrow understandings of transitional justice, how these obscure the potential for transitional justice to tackle issues of economic and social rights violations, social inequality and other forms of structural violence, and the need for a broad understanding of transitional justice and its key components. This dissertation addresses the historical and political roots of the field and how these influenced a traditional understanding of transitional justice. Thereafter, it traces broadening understandings of the concept, evident in the changing meanings of 'justice’ and 'transition’ and its stated aims. It then considers calls for transitional justice to go beyond its focus on civil and political rights violations and to further address economic and social rights violations and structural violence, and how these challenge the traditional understanding of the concept. Drawing on the distinction between a concept and a conception, and considering transitional justice as an effectively contestable concept, this dissertation proposes a broad understanding of the concept as the pursuit of justice during a period of social or political transition in order to address past injustices and to work towards certain aspirations for the future, comprising of the key components of justice, transition, and backwards- and forwards-looking considerations. With a primary focus on criminal and restorative justice, civil and political rights, and trials and truth commissions, the traditional conception of transitional justice is ill-equipped both conceptually and practically to address issues of structural violence. Instead, a conception of transitional justice motivated by social or distributive justice is best suited to address social inequality and other forms of structural violence. Finally, this dissertation considers revolutionary Nicaragua’s attempts to redress social inequality in the areas of health, education and housing as an example of transitional justice. It is concluded that revolutionary Nicaragua’s concerted effort to address social inequality should be considered as a conception of transitional justice inspired by social and distributive justice. With growing calls for transitional justice to go beyond its traditional focus on criminal and restorative justice, scholars and practitioners stand to learn from previously overlooked examples of societies in transition tackling issues of social inequality and other forms of structural violence as a matter of transitional justice.
- ItemOpen AccessResilient Apartheid survivors and their navigation of historical trauma at the Castle of Good Hope, Cape Town(2020) Johannes, Shanél; Scanlon, Helen; Bam-Hutchison, JuneThe history of South Africa entails colonial and apartheid era violence and trauma (visible and invisible) which ingrained various socio-economic-political-agrarian orders of brutalisation, mass killings, and the displacement of local people from their culture, language, land, agency, and spirituality. Attached to such history, are the intact remnants of the colonial and apartheid eras – national heritage monuments. The Castle of Good Hope, as a national heritage site, is not limited as being the oldest architectural structure in Cape Town, nor is it only a transitioning site that tries to incorporate democratic principles of multiple heritage. This site wields memories of both individual and collective historical colonial and apartheid trauma. Critically, this research project seeks to empirically analyse whether historical traumas are embedded in the displaced landscape and individual and collective experiences as the descendants of the colonised, enslaved, and oppressed. Historical trauma in this context, is often associated with the scholarship on the trans-Atlantic slave trade (from Africa to the Americas). However, little work is done in relation to the descendant's navigation of trauma – the resultant of the Indian Ocean trade and slave trade. The trauma related to the violent occupation of the European nations, transcended itself and was continued through various apartheid policies which has prevailing legacies of intergenerational historical trauma in Cape Town. Thus, this qualitative empirical research project seeks to explore the memories, experiences, and recommendations of resilient apartheid survivors – the descendants of the colonised, enslaved, and oppressed generations – and the ways in which they navigate the Castle of Good Hope as a site of historical trauma.
- ItemOpen AccessThe comfort women: A study exploring the nuances of the movement(2023) Kalula, Musindosi; Scanlon, HelenThe term ‘comfort women' refers to victims who were abducted and forced into a system of sex trafficking that started as early as the 1930s until the end of World War II. The system was sanctioned by the Japanese government which saw its Imperial Army abducting an estimated 200,000 women and girls from nations including South Korea, China, the Philippines and Singapore. Although almost a century has passed since the system's dissolvement, it continues to be a topic of contention, particularly between South Korea and Japan, as post-colonial issues have spilled over into bilateral disagreements. Civil society organisations in South Korea have been influential in catapulting the issue onto the international stage in order for the ‘comfort women's' demands for reparations, mainly in the form of compensation and an official state apology from Japan, to be met. Additionally, organisations such as the Korean Council, have pushed for transnational women's rights to be recognised. This dissertation puts forward an important question: For a relatively successful transnational movement, how, particularly in South Korea, have demands not been met? This dissertation analyses the role a nationalist lens can create when dealing with a women's rights issue. Feminist activism grew exponentially during the 1970s and 1980s which contributed to bringing awareness to transnational women's issues such as the ‘comfort women' system. However, in the context of South Korea, there is a growing faction of nationalist activism that has placed post-colonial symbolic imagery onto the ‘comfort women' – resulting in a simplification of their trauma and demands to an ‘us' versus ‘them.'
- ItemOpen Access"The Government Believes That History Unfolds as History Unfolds" In what ways have consecutive Dutch governments sought to address Dutch violence during Indonesia's independence war of 1945-1949? A study into the approaches applied by Dutch governments over the course of almost seventy years(2019) Assies, Tessa; Scanlon, HelenSince the end of the twentieth century, more and more countries have been confronted with how to deal with injustice from the past. Current governments are increasingly asked requested to assume accountability for crimes committed by their predecessors. Due to the growth of human rights, the discussion surrounding this, a more conscious society and the empowerment of victims, old cases are increasingly being exposed. This is also the case for the Dutch government. During the war of independence in Indonesia between 1945 and 1949, the population of this country fought to be released from under the Dutch rule. Later research would show that the Dutch army committed crimes there under the guise of 'an internal mission' to preserve the colony for the kingdom. After the war, it remained undiscussed, and successive Dutch governments even actively 'neutralised' the case. Later, when a clearly defined group of victims emerged, the Dutch government had to deal with it differently. In the spirit of the global developments concerning human rights and interest in history, the Dutch government took some tentative steps in addressing the Indonesian issue. Real changes however were enforced through a lawsuit filed by the aforementioned group of victims. These victims won their case, and the ruling established for the first time that the Dutch state had a responsibility towards the group of victims from Indonesia. Did this lead to a change in the Dutch governmental approach towards the Dutch violence during the independence war? Has anything actually changed over the years to this approach? This thesis examines the attitude and approach of successive Dutch authorities towards Dutch violence in Indonesia, divided over three periods: the five-decades post-war; the period 1995-2011 (in this last year the lawsuit was filed); and the time post-lawsuit.