Gender and the Politics of Reconciliation

dc.contributor.authorScanlon, Helen
dc.date.accessioned2017-09-26T12:19:44Z
dc.date.available2017-09-26T12:19:44Z
dc.date.issued2016-06
dc.description.abstractTwenty-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.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationScanlon, H. (2016). <i>Gender and the Politics of Reconciliation</i> (Institute for Justice and Reconciliation). University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of Political Studies. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11427/25375en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationScanlon, Helen <i>Gender and the Politics of Reconciliation.</i> Institute for Justice and Reconciliation. University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of Political Studies, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/25375en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationScanlon, H. (2016). Gender and the Politics of Reconciliation. Occasional Paper No. 19. Cape Town: Institute for Justice and Reconciliation.en_ZA
dc.identifier.isbn978-1-920219-68-0en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Working Paper AU - Scanlon, Helen AB - Twenty-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. DA - 2016-06 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2016 SM - 978-1-920219-68-0 T1 - Gender and the Politics of Reconciliation TI - Gender and the Politics of Reconciliation UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/25375 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/25375
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationScanlon H. Gender and the Politics of Reconciliation. 2016 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/25375en_ZA
dc.languageengen_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentDepartment of Political Studiesen_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Humanitiesen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.relation.ispartofseriesInstitute for Justice and Reconciliationen_ZA
dc.titleGender and the Politics of Reconciliationen_ZA
dc.typeWorking Paperen_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceOccasional paperen_ZA
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