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Truth Commissions, Education, and Positive Peace: An Analysis of Truth Commission Final Reports (1980-2015)

Authors :
Paulson, Julia
Bellino, Michelle J.
Source :
Comparative Education. 2017 53(3):351-378.
Publication Year :
2017

Abstract

Transitional justice and education both occupy increasingly prominent space on the international peacebuilding agenda, though less is known about the ways they might reinforce one another to contribute towards peace. This paper presents a cross-national analysis of truth commission (TC) reports spanning 1980-2015, exploring the range of educational work taken on by one of the most prominent forms of transitional justice. We find that TC engagement with education is increasing over time and that TCs are incorporating the task of "telling the truth about education" into their work. However, when TCs engage with education, they tend to recommend forwards looking reforms, for instance decontextualised human rights and peace education. We argue that this limits the contribution that TCs might make towards positive peace by failing to use their backwards looking, truth telling work to insist on transformation in the educational sector.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
0305-0068
Volume :
53
Issue :
3
Database :
ERIC
Journal :
Comparative Education
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
EJ1153273
Document Type :
Journal Articles<br />Reports - Evaluative
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1080/03050068.2017.1334428