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Between Western theory and local practice: Cultural impediments to truth‐telling in Sierra Leone
Author(s) -
Millar Gearoid
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
conflict resolution quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.323
H-Index - 21
eISSN - 1541-1508
pISSN - 1536-5581
DOI - 10.1002/crq.20041
Subject(s) - sierra leone , peacebuilding , worry , ethnography , transitional justice , commission , sociology , epistemology , representation (politics) , economic justice , truth telling , political science , law , psychology , anthropology , ethnology , politics , psychoanalysis , philosophy , anxiety , psychiatry
Although truth commissions are thought to provide healing and justice in postwar situations, some scholars worry that such mechanisms emerge from Western theories that may be inapplicable in many cultural settings. Based on an ethnographic study of local experiences of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission for Sierra Leone, this article describes how local cultural dynamics determine whether truth‐telling is experienced as predicted by peacebuilding theory. This article argues that the variability of such dynamics, which create unique local conceptual constructs and norms, often militates against the application of truth‐telling processes, and that this was clearly the case in Sierra Leone.