The Epistemic Violence of Transitional Justice

A View from Sri Lanka

Datos Bibliográficos

ID8092662
AutoresKiran Grewal (0000-0002-0130-6015, Goldsmiths University of London, autor de correspondencia), Kiran Kaur Grewal
Año2023
Volumen17
Número2
Páginas322-338
Fecha de publicación2023-07-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaInternational Journal of Transitional Justice (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1752-7716 • E-ISSN: 1752-7724
EditorialOxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1093/ijtj/ijad016
OpenAlexW4384071776
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas10
Referencias citadas5

In this article I explore the failures of transitional justice in post-war Sri Lanka. For most commentators this is simply explained in terms of a lack of political will. However, I argue that beyond this transitional justice in Sri Lanka is a story of epistemic violence. This is a result of its over-reliance on abstract, universalist liberal democratic theory that fails to properly grasp the historical, cultural and socio-political specificity not just of the locations where transitional justice is proposed but of the conceptual foundation of transitional justice itself. As a result, transitional justice simultaneously discounts colonial legacies while reproducing colonial categories. In the case of Sri Lanka this has resulted in a failure to fully understand and address the root causes of conflict and an inability to see and draw upon resources for reconciliation, reparation and redress

Colonialism · Democracy · Economic Justice · Ethnology · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Redress · Sociology · South asia · Sri lanka · Transitional justice · Asian Geopolitics and Ethnography · Cambodian History and Society · International Law and Human Rights · Law