Summary

Commissioning the Past provides a multifaceted evaluation of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission. It is concerned with national politics, but also takes into account the specific, local implications of the TRCs hearings and findings, as well as the uncensored voices of some of the survivors of human rights abuses, in whose name the whole exercise was undertaken. The views of three groups with different perspectives are aired: academic scholars; commissioners and researchers who worked with the TRC; and people who told the Commission, stories of victimization on behalf of themselves or a family member. The emerging dialogue between 'outsiders' and 'insiders', and between national, local and individual experiences, are a distinguishing feature of the book.