Title: Navigating Local Transitional Justice: Agency at Work in Post-Conflict Sierra Leone (African Studies, Series Number 163)
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Publication Date: 2025
Language: English
ISBN 10: 1009281062
ISBN 13: 9781009281065
Binding: Soft cover
Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

In post-war Sierra Leone, a range of transitional justice mechanisms were implemented to address experiences of conflict, violence, and human rights violations. Much of the research on local transitional justice processes has focused on the work of organisations, failing to acknowledge how individual and communal dynamics shape and are shaped by these programs. Drawing on original fieldwork in Sierra Leone, Laura S. Martin moves beyond discussions measuring effectiveness and considers how people navigate their circumstances in conflict and post-conflict societies. Developing the idea of recognised and unrecognised transitional justice processes, Martin uses Fambul Tok as an example of a recognised local transitional justice program and shows how ordinary Sierra Leoneans appropriated Fambul Tok's agenda for their own purposes. Ultimately, this book highlights the crucial role of agency and the diverse range of actors involved in transitional justice processes. Justice, as Martin powerfully argues, is not something that happens to or for people, but is enacted by individuals and communities.

About the Author

Laura S. Martin is Assistant Professor at the University of Nottingham and an affiliate at the University of Makeni, Sierra Leone. She has conducted research in Sierra Leone for over ten years and, in 2021, was Co-Investigator on an AHRC project entitled 'Performing Arts and Social Violence'. She has been published in numerous journals including Cooperation and Conflict and Third World Quarterly.

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