Gender, Transitional Justice and Memorial Arts

"Congratulations to the authors -As a feminist practitioner of transitional justice, I am excited about the contribution that Gender, Transitional Justice and Memorial Arts will make to the evolution of ‘memory’ a neglected area in this field as a tool for transformative justice. The book provides a feminist critique of commemorative practices through cases studies on sites of commemoration, symbolic reparations from a gendered perspective. The book catalogues the comparative struggles of feminists to combat impunity for femicide in Latin America beginning with the murder of Mexican poet Susanna Chavez Castillo-we then journey to Sub-saharan Africa where the murder of the young student Uyinene Mrwetyana set alight protests all over the country. The book also highlights the forgotten plight and struggles of the Comfort Women in South Korea for both recognition and reparations from the Japanese government. The authors find inspiration in feminist collective activism against gendered violence drawing upon injustices of the past and point to how contemporary struggles for women’s rights and autonomy are must be rooted in intersectionality against postcolonial inequalities and heteronormativity that impact marginalised group including LGBTQ communities, ethnic minorities and indigenous people."

Yasmin Sooka is a leading international expert in the field of Transitional Justice and currently Chair of the UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan. She is a Former Commissioner of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission as well as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Sierra Leone