Truth recovery in Northern Ireland : critically interpreting the past / Kirk Simpson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Simpson, Kirk, author.

Series:

EBL-Schweitzer

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Peace-building--Northern Ireland.

Peace-building.

Truth commissions--Northern Ireland.

Truth commissions.

Political violence--Northern Ireland.

Political violence.

Northern Ireland--Politics and government--1968-1998.

Northern Ireland.

Northern Ireland--Politics and government--1998-.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xvi, 157 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

Online-ausg.

Place of Publication:

Manchester : Manchester University Press, 2009.

Language Note:

English

System Details:

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Summary:

Northern Ireland has entered what is arguably the key phase in its troubled political history-truth recovery and dealing with the legacy of the past-yet the void in knowledge and the lack of academic literature with regard to victims' rights is particularly striking. This book analyses truth recovery as a fundamental aspect of the transition from political violence to peace, democracy and stability in post-conflict Northern Ireland. It argues that it is essential for any process of truth recovery in Northern Ireland to provide the victims of political violence with the opportunity to express and articulate their narratives of suffering within the context of public dialogic processes. The book outlines an original model: that victims of political violence should be enabled to engage in meaningful truth recovery through a Habermasian process of public democratic deliberation and communication involving direct dialogue with the perpetrators of such violence. This process of 'communicative justice' is framed within Habermas' theory of communicative action, and can help to ensure that legitimate truth recovery publicly acknowledges the trauma of victims' and subjects' perpetrator narratives of political violence to critical scrutiny and rational deconstruction. Crucially, the book aims to contribute to the empowerment of victims in Northern Ireland by stimulating constructive discussion and awareness of hitherto silenced narratives of the conflict. This difficult and unsettling interrogation and interpretation of the conflict from a comparatively 'unknown perspective' is central to the prospects for critically examining and mastering the past in Northern Ireland.

Contents:

Contents; Acknowledgements; List of boxes; List of abbreviations; Introduction; 1 The conflict in Northern Ireland A contextual and thematic analysis; 2 Truth commissions and dealing with the past; 3 Voices silenced, voices rediscovered Victims of violence and the reclamation of language in transitional societies; 4 Victims of political violence A Habermasian model of truth recovery; 5 Memorialisation in post-conflict societies Critically interpreting the past; 6 Conclusion; References; Index

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 14 Apr 2026).

Includes bibliographical references (p. [143]-151) and index.

ISBN:

1-78170-304-3

1-84779-344-4

OCLC:

818847382