Reconciliation and the Aporia of Transitional Justice

Abstracts Transitional justice mechanisms have emerged in several dozen countries since the end of the Cold War under various forms, combining prosecutions, truth-seeking, reconciliation, or reform of security and judicial systems. These mechanisms have left a trail of complex legacies. This article critically engages with the concept of reconciliation in transitional justice, especially in settler colonial contexts. It argues that reconciliation mechanisms constitute a burden to the aggrieved and they ultimately obfuscate the debate on reparations and atonement, compelling forgiveness as the truly upstanding response to past abuses. Doing so, the article recasts the focus on transitional justice to settler colonial settings, centering on the cases of South Africa, Canada, and Australia. The aporia of forgiveness and reconciliation in transitional justice extends to the reckoning with slavery and colonialism as well, in the afterlives of empire.