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Victim Healing and Truth Commissions

Transforming Pain Through Voice in Solomon Islands and Timor-Leste

  • Book
  • © 2015

Overview

Authors:
  1. Holly L. Guthrey

    1. Peace and Conflict Studies, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden

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  • Focuses on determining the methods by which truth-telling can facilitate healing?
  • Provides novel empirical data about trends in truth commission creation over time and by region
  • Links multiple literatures (restorative justice, procedural justice, victim healing) to further existing theories on the healing potential of truth-telling
  • Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

Part of the book series: Springer Series in Transitional Justice (SSTJ, volume 11)

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Table of contents (8 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-ix
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Introduction

    • Holly L. Guthrey
    Pages 1-8

  3. Healing and Truth Commissions: Competition or Complement?

    • Holly L. Guthrey
    Pages 9-28

  4. Theories Explaining the Healing Potential of Public Truth-Telling: Linking Voice, Truth Commissions, and Healing

    • Holly L. Guthrey
    Pages 29-49

  5. Research Design and Methods

    • Holly L. Guthrey
    Pages 51-68

  6. Timor-Leste: Case Study Analysis

    • Holly L. Guthrey
    Pages 69-106

  7. Solomon Islands: Case Study Analysis

    • Holly L. Guthrey
    Pages 107-151

  8. Making Sense of the Findings from Timor-Leste and Solomon Islands

    • Holly L. Guthrey
    Pages 153-177

  9. Conclusion

    • Holly L. Guthrey
    Pages 179-182

  10. Back Matter

    Pages 183-184
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Keywords

About this book

​This book intends to contribute to the growing body of transitional justice literature by providing insight into how truth commissions may be beneficial to victims of mass violence, based on data collected in Timor-Leste and on the Solomon Islands. Drawing on literature in the fields of victim psychology, procedural justice, and transitional justice, this study is guided by the puzzle of why truth-telling in post-conflict settings has been found to be both helpful and harmful to victims of mass violence. Existing studies have identified a range of positive benefits and negative consequences of truth-telling for victims; however, the reasons why some victims experience a sense of healing while others do not after participating in post-conflict truth commission processes continues to remain unclear. Hence, to address one piece of this complex puzzle, this book seeks to begin clarifying how truth-telling may be beneficial for victims by investigating the question: What pathways lead from truth-telling to victim healing in post-conflict settings? Building on the proposition that having voice—a key component of procedural justice—can help individuals to overcome the disempowerment and marginalisation of victimisation, this book investigates voice­ as a  causal mechanism that can create pathways toward healing within truth commission public hearings.   Comparative, empirical studies that investigate how truth-telling contributes to victim healing in post-conflict settings are scarce in the field of transitional justice. This book begins to fill an important gap in the existing body of literature. From a practical standpoint, by enhancing understanding of how truth commissions can promote healing, the findings and arguments in this volume provide insight into how the design of transitional justice processes may be improved in the future to better respond to the needs of victims of mass violence.

Authors and Affiliations

  • Peace and Conflict Studies, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden

    Holly L. Guthrey

About the author

Dr. Holly Guthrey is a Researcher and Program Coordinator, in the East Asian Peace Program at the Department of Peace and Conflict Research, at Uppsala University in Uppsala, Sweden. She recently completed her PhD at the National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Otago, New Zealand.

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Victim Healing and Truth Commissions

  • Book Subtitle: Transforming Pain Through Voice in Solomon Islands and Timor-Leste

  • Authors: Holly L. Guthrey

  • Series Title: Springer Series in Transitional Justice

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-12487-2

  • Publisher: Springer Cham

  • eBook Packages: Business and Economics, Economics and Finance (R0)

  • Copyright Information: Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-12486-5Published: 23 March 2015

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-319-38580-8Published: 09 October 2016

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-12487-2Published: 23 February 2015

  • Series ISSN: 2945-5413

  • Series E-ISSN: 2945-5421

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: IX, 184

  • Number of Illustrations: 5 illustrations in colour

  • Topics: Social Policy, Criminology and Criminal Justice, general, Political Science

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