Cultivating Transformative Reconciliation: Are TRC Processes Enough?

Are Truth and Reconciliation Commission processes enough to achieve reconciliation? This volume discusses issues that arise once the task of reconciliation emanates from the limited scope of a specific Truth and Reconciliation Commission and into the larger society and political system that originated it. Scholars spanning several research fields, from law to history to theology, discuss how transformative reconciliation can be cultivated in a society, using decolonization and other perspectives, along three lines: by specifying transformative issues and processes in law and politics, by criticizing historical perspectives on the past and its concepts as deliberations of the status quo, and by instilling the inherent dynamics of truth and reconciliation processes as permanent features within broader society. The volume embarks on an investigation of the Norwegianization policy, a historical framework that brought injustices upon minority groups, such as the Sámi and Kvens (Norwegian Finns) in Norway, and parallel groups in Sweden and Finland. It extends its exploration to analogous unjust policies in South Africa, Canada, and various other contexts. Within the complex web of cultural, social, political, and economic struggles stemming from colonial policies, the roles of religion, politics, research institutions, and civil society are critically examined.

Line Merethe Skum is assistant professor of diaconia in the Faculty of Theology and Social Sciences at the VID Specialized University campus in Tromsø, Norway.


John Klaasen is professor of ethics in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at the University of the Western Cape in Cape Town, South Africa. He is also professor in the Faculty of Theology and Social Sciences at the VID Specialized University campus in Oslo, Norway.


Bernd Krupka is associate professor in religious education in the Faculty of Theology and Social Sciences at the VID Specialized University campus in Tromsø, Norway.


Ray Aldred is director of the Indigenous Studies Program at Vancouver School of Theology on the campus of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada.