Moral Subjectivity and Affective Deficit in the Transitional State

2015 ◽  
Vol 59 (4) ◽  
pp. 66-82
Author(s):  
Christiaan Beyers
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
The State ◽  
Colonial Era ◽  
Land Claim ◽  
Transitional State ◽  
Social Fact ◽  
Political Resource ◽  
Legal Subjects ◽  
Land Restitution

In the context of transitional justice, how does the reinvented state come to be assumed as a social fact? South African land restitution interpellates victims of apartheid- and colonial-era forced removals as claimants, moral and legal subjects of a virtuous 'new' state. In the emotional narratives of loss and suffering called forth in land claim forms, the state is addressed as a subject capable of moral engagement. Claim forms also 'capture' affects related to the event of forced removals as an unstable political resource. However, within an ultimately legal and bureaucratic process, the desire for recognition is typically not reciprocated. Moreover, material settlements are indefinitely delayed due to political and institutional complications. The resulting disillusionment is counterweighed by persistent aspirations for state redress.

The Importance of Conversation in Transitional Justice: A Study of Land Restitution in South Africa

2014 ◽  
Vol 39 (04) ◽  
pp. 902-937 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernadette Atuahene
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Procedural Justice ◽  
South African ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Institutional Arrangements ◽  
The South ◽  
Communication Breakdowns ◽  
Land Restitution

One of the most replicated findings of the procedural justice literature is that people who receive unfavorable outcomes are more likely to believe that the process was nonetheless legitimate if they thought that it was fair. Using interviews of 150 people compensated through the South African land restitution program, this article examines whether these findings apply in the transitional justice context where it is often unclear who the winners and losers are. The question explored is: When all outcomes are unfavorable or incomplete, how do people make fairness assessments? The central observation was that the ability of respondents and land restitution commission officials to sustain a conversation with each other had the greatest effect on whether respondents believed that the land restitution process was fair. The study also contributes to the existing literature by exploring the institutional arrangements and resources necessary to facilitate communication and to overcome any communication breakdowns encountered.

scholarly journals Anthropology on trial: exploring the laws of anthropological expertise

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 293-311 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olaf Zenker
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Cultural Diversity ◽  
The State ◽  
Land Claim ◽  
Legal Proceedings ◽  
Strategic Essentialism ◽  
Land Restitution ◽  
Point Of Reference

AbstractThis paper explores the role of anthropological expertise in shaping the outcome of legal proceedings under conditions of cultural diversity. Taking the state-driven land-restitution process in post-apartheid South Africa as its point of reference, the text reflects upon the work of anthropological experts in a number of cases and shows how their theoretical and political stances shaped the trajectories of their legal engagements. Pointing towards frictions that emerge in acts of translation between the seemingly objectivist rhetoric evoked in court and more relativist and subjectivist stances within the academy, the paper revisits and problematises debates around strategic essentialism. Sketching instead the contours of a ‘recursive anthropology’ that expresses itself in terms of a post-positivist universalism, the paper turns on the author's use of his own expertise in support of a White land claim, probing – and critically reflecting upon – the practical potential of a form of expertise grounded in such a recursive anthropology.

scholarly journals Mechanisms of transitional justice in overcoming the consequences of armed conflict

2020 ◽  
pp. 14-18
Author(s):  
Andrii Bahinskyi
Keyword(s):  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
The State ◽  
Truth Commissions ◽  
Criminal Prosecution ◽  
Sociological Research ◽  
Politics Of Memory ◽  
Transitional State ◽  
Post Conflict

The article examines transitional justice as a set of post-conflict settlement measures. Today, transitional courts, truth commissions, amnesties, and reparations are transitional justice mechanisms that are widely and relatively effectively used to resolve conflicts around the world. Today, the mechanisms of transitional justice are also being improved to meet the needs of victims of armed conflict. Sociological research confirms that the combination of international and local dimensions of responsibility is an important demand on the part of victims of armed conflict.At the same time, the prosecution of perpetrators of crimes committed during armed conflict in modern conditions concerns individual prosecution, which often goes beyond public prosecution. The state retains the obligation to bring perpetrators of crimes to justice, but this can be done through mechanisms of international law.The practice of post-conflict settlement is due to the fact that not all courts are equally effective in punishing those guilty of crimes and criminal prosecution is not always successful. Formal truth-seeking processes involving the investigation of past violations involve truth commissions. Another important mechanism of transitional justice is the politics of memory. The politics of memory as an element of transitional justice encompasses the work of states with a historical past.The combination of transitional state justice measures with the use of ad-hoc institutions allows for the restoration of justice in the most controversial dimensions of armed conflict. Peace is accelerating in the direction of autonomy and expansion of the mandates of transitional justice institutions, organized memory policy, effective cooperation of national and international institutions to determine their jurisdiction in human rights, sociological research on the needs of victims of armed conflict. Evaluation of the effectiveness of transitional justice mechanisms is possible only if their interconnectedness, interaction with civil society and the state are taken into account.

The Engagement of Beneficiaries in Farm Governance of Restituted Land through the Communal Property Association Model: The Ideal Versus the Reality of Beneficiary Farms in South Africa

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mokoko Piet Sebola ◽  
Malemela Angelinah Mamabolo
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Land Reform ◽  
Farm Management ◽  
The South ◽  
African Government ◽  
Communal Property ◽  
Farm Ownership ◽  
Land Restitution ◽  
Communal Property Associations

The purpose of this article is to evaluate the engagement of farm beneficiaries in South Africa in the governance of restituted farms through communal property associations. The South African government has already spent millions of rands on land restitution to correct the imbalance of the past with regard to farm ownership by the African communities. Various methods of farm management to benefit the African society have been proposed, however, with little recorded success. This article argues that the South African post-apartheid government was so overwhelmed by political victory in 1994 that they introduced ambitious land reform policies that were based on ideal thinking rather than on a pragmatic approach to the South African situation. We used qualitative research methods to argue that the engagement of farm beneficiaries in farm management and governance through communal property associations is failing dismally. We conclude that a revisit of the communal property associations model is required in order to strengthen the position of beneficiaries and promote access to land by African communities for future benefit.

South African land restitution : unpacking the backlog problem

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 69-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Mudau ◽  
◽  
Ricky Munyaradzi Mukonza ◽  
Bhekabantu Alson Ntshangase ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Land Restitution

Conclusion

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fanie du Toit
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Social Exclusion ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
The State ◽  
African History ◽  
Divided Societies ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
South Africans ◽  
Social Goods ◽  
Forward Looking

Reading South African history through the lens of interdependence helps explain the disappointment that many South Africans feel in relation to reconciliation. While they are justified in feeling let down, owing to rising inequality and social exclusion, it is wrong to blame Mandela’s strategy of just interdependence because it was abandoned too early. In seeking to overcome oppression, reconciliation is forward-looking and predicated on rebuilding relationships in divided societies. Dealing with a violent past is valuable when striving for a more just future. Reconciliation fosters just, inclusive, and fair societies and is locally owned and driven. A progressive approach to reconciliation is also needed. Reconciliation recognizes the inherent interdependence between citizens themselves, and between citizens and the state. These relationships are progressively re-established in more just ways. In so doing, it helps to create conditions in which social goods such as forgiveness, the rule of law, or democracy become possible.

scholarly journals Reading Practices and Literacy of Boer Combatants in the South African War of 1899–1902

2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 286-307
Author(s):  
Fransjohan Pretorius
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
South African ◽  
Practical Experience ◽  
The State ◽  
Reading Practices ◽  
The South ◽  
Planning Strategy ◽  
The Bible ◽  
South African War ◽  
Reading Matter

In investigating the reading practices of Boer combatants during the South African War, diaries, letters, and reminiscences were consulted. The state of literacy reveals a picture of a small number of highly literate men, a larger group of adequately literate men, a still larger group of semi-literates, and the illiterate. Reading matter included the Bible, newspapers, and books. Issues raised are: Did literacy (or illiteracy) influence military decision-making or troop morale? Were certain works making some impact on the battlefield? Was the practical experience the Boers had gained before the war more successful in planning strategy and tactics than literacy?

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