Performance of reconciliation: Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa as theatre of justice and legitimation of political system

Abstract

This paper is giving an overview of the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa through a thesis of congruence between its protocols and elements of theatrical performance. After an introductory survey of the historical context of apartheid, it offers an analysis of TRC’s work through two roles it had – the role of a legal instrument, and the one of a tool for facing the past and producing the national historical narrative. This paper analyses the relation between theatrical and performative characteristics, and concepts of transitional and restorative justice; the influence of elements of performance is also studied in TRC’s effect on creating national narratives, which are used to legitimate new legal and political order.

Keywords

• truth and reconciliation commission
• theatre
• apartheid
• restorative justice
• legitimation narratives
• dealing with the past