Remaking Transitional Justice in the United States

Remaking Transitional Justice in the United States explores rhetorical attempts to authorize the Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission—a grassroots initiative established in Greensboro, North Carolina in 2004 to investigate a traumatic and controversial event in the city’s past.

The book demonstrates that the field of transitional justice has given rise to a transnational rhetorical tradition that provides practitioners with resources to act in their own particular contexts. It then shows, through detailed analyses, how the Greensboro commissioners and their advocates made use of this rhetorical tradition in their attempts to establish the Commission’s authority in the community. Calling attention to the rhetorical moves shared among those working in the field of transitional justice, this study offers insights into the development of transitional justice in the United States and other liberal democracies.

This book is relevant to scholars and practitioners of transitional justice as it describes mechanisms of transitional justice that are frequently overlooked: rhetorical mechanisms. It also speaks to any readers interested in the communicative strategies of truth commissions.