ReconTrans
(Trading justice for peace? Reconciliation as a transformative concept in TRC processes, 2019-2023) was an international comparative research project initiated and coordinated by KUN/VID Tromsø. The project involved collaboration with the University of Western Cape (South Africa) and the Vancouver School of Theology (VST, Canada), with participation of researchers from South Africa, Canada, Norway and Sweden.
VID's role in the project: Initiator and coordinator.
Collaborating partners: University of Western Cape (South Africa) and Vancouver School of Theology (Canada), with the participation of researchers from South Africa, Canada, Norway, and Sweden.
Funding: Nord-Hålogaland diocesan council.
KUN/VID Tromsø applied to the Research Council of Norway (NFR) for support for the ReconTrans project. The application was rejected, but the Project Fornorsking og Forsoning (Norwegianization and Reconciliation) (2020-2023), funded by the Nord-Hålogaland diocesan council, provided room to implement the project in a scaled-down form.
Project objective
ReconTrans aimed to investigate how and to what extent ‘reconciliation’ as a transformative concept and practice takes place in connection with TRCs. The project examined the Norwegian TRC process (2018-2023) in real time, and facilitated comparative research dialogue across commission experiences in South Africa, Canada and Norway/Nordic.
Research results
The research results have been published in two scientific anthologies:
- Guðmarsdóttir, S., Regan, P. & Solomons, D. (Red.). (2021). Trading Justice for Peace? Reframing reconciliation in TRC processes in South Africa, Canada and Nordic countries. AOSIS. https://doi.org/ https://doi.org/10.4102/aosis.2021.BK174.
- Skum, L. M., Klaasen, J., Krupka, B. & Aldred, R. (Red.). (2024). Cultivating transformative reconciliation: Are TRC processes enough? Pickwick Publications. https://wipfandstock.com/9781666778755/cultivating-transformative-reconciliation/.
Moreover, Kirke og Kultur published a special issue on Truth and Reconciliation (1/2023) in collaboration with KUN/VID Tromsø, based on conference papers from the ReconTrans conference in Oslo in May 2022.
Research networks and conferences
The project was built on a research network established through research conferences in Cape Town on May 31, 2019 and in Tromsø on October 29-30, 2019. Two further ReconTrans conferences were convened during the project period:
- “Reconciliation without the majority? Civil society contributions to truth and reconciliation in the settlement of the Norwegianization policy”, VID Oslo, Oslo, 3.-4. mai 2022 (samarbeid med Den norske kirke).
- «Cultivating transformative reconciliation: The Canadian TRC experience in dialogue with the South African and Nordic cases”, VST, Vancouver, 21.-22. september 2022.
Sub-project "Small stories challenging large narratives"
The sub-project “Small stories challenging large narratives”, which analyzed approximately 170 personal narratives shared at 16 open commission meetings in Norway, processed personal data about ethnicity. For this reason, the sub-project was registered with and approved by SIKT. The sub-study is published in Cultivating Transformative Reconciliation (2024). If you want more information about this particular study, please contact us by email: tore.johnsen@vid.no.
TRADING JUSTICE FOR PEACE?
Introduction Trading justice for peace? Perils and possibilities. Demaine Solomons, Paulette Regan, Sigríður Guðmarsdóttir
Part One: Negotiating truth, justice and reconciliation: TRC mandates, processes and legacies
Chapter 1 Negotiating the meaning of ‘TRC’ in the Norwegian context. Tore Johnsen
Chapter 2 Canada’s TRC: An ‘unsettling’ Indigenous-centred relational justice and reconciliation model. Paulette Regan
Chapter 3 Reconciliation recommended: On the anchoring of TRC proposals. Kjell-Åke Nordquist
Chapter 4 Reconciliation as an outcome rather than an intention. Stanley Henkeman
Part Two: No reconciliation without justice: Indigenous rights, resurgence, self-determination and territorial lands
Chapter 5 Justice twenty-one years post-TRC! Can a theology of reconstruction assist us to regain our focus on reconciliation and justice? Christo H. Thesnaar
Chapter 6 When justice has borders: Some reflections on national borders in relation to the TRC in Norway. Lovisa M. Sjöberg, Mikkel N. Sara
Chapter 7 Prospects and challenges for reconciliation: Implementing the TRC calls to action. David B. MacDonald
Chapter 8 Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada: An invitation to boldness. Sheryl Lightfoot
Part Three: Re-storying national histories: Counter-narratives of social memory and justice
Chapter 9 Narrative and truth and reconciliation. John Klaasen
Chapter 10 Reburial of Sami human remains as ritualised reconciliation. Daniel Lindmark
Chapter 11 Records as instruments of truth, justice and reconciliation – Disrupting colonialism in archival praxis. Elizabeth Shaffer
Part Four: Histories of violence and trauma: negotiating identity, responsibility and accountability for redress and reconciliation
Chapter 12 Steve Biko as a ‘Christian’: A contribution to ethnic and racial reconciliation in post-apartheid South Africa. Eugene Baron
Chapter 13 Social justice, white beneficiaries and the South African TRC. Wilhelm Verwoerd
Chapter 14 Unsettling ‘perpetrators’: Comrade memories of complex violence and the South African TRC. Kim Wale
Chapter 15 Building thin sympathetic engagement to foster truth commission success. Joanna R. Quinn
Conclusion Forging transnational pathways for reconciliation. Paulette Regan, Demaine Solomons, Sigríður Guðmarsdóttir
Cultivating Transformative Reconciliation
Introduction: Cultivating Transformative Reconciliation, Line M. Skum, John Klaasen, Bernd Krupka, and Ray Aldred
Part One: Transformative Issues in Law and Politics
1. The Nordic Truth and Reconciliation Commissions: A New TRC Model for Resolving Historic and Ongoing Violations of Indigenous Rights? Elin Skaar
2. TRC and Processes within the Church of Norway: Unequal Status of North Sámi and Kvens/Norwegian Finns in Shared Regions. Hans Morten Haugen
3. Untangling the Gordian Knot: Recognition of Indigenous Minorities in the Context of Truth and Reconciliation in Norway and Peru. Anne Margrethe Sønneland and Carola Lingaas
4. Reflections on Truth and Reconciliation Commissions in the Context of Decolonization. Girum Zeleke
Part Two: Understanding History from a Transformative Perspective
5. Historical Justice as a New Challenge in Historical Research: Reflections on the White Paper Project on the Historical Relations Between the Church of Sweden and the Sámi People. Daniel Lindmark
6. Decolonizing Scandinavian Creation Theology: The Constructive Critique of Key Concepts in the Works of Sámi Theologian Tore Johnsen. Gyrid Gunnes
7. Truth and Reconciliation in Sápmi and Libanon: Messianism of Decolonization. Helge Hiram Abdelnoor Jensen
8. The Relation of Civil Society to the Norwegian TRC-Process in the Light of TRUCOM Research: A Reconciliation without the Majority? Kjell Olsen
Part Three: Transformative Reconciliation – The TRC Processes and Beyond
9. Between Performance and the Absurd: Evaluating Reconciliation at the South African TRC. Demaine Solomons
10. Small Stories Challenging Large Narratives: The Contribution of Personal Accounts to Transformative Reconciliation in Post-TRC Norway. Tore Johnsen
11. Narrative as Interlocutor of Identity and Reconciliation. John Klaasen
12. Remembering: A Pathway to Unburden our Present? Bonita Bennett