Performances of Injustice
The Politics of Truth, Justice and Reconciliation in Kenya

How and why did Kenya's transitional justice efforts fail, and what does this say about the persistence of the past?

Gabrielle Lynch (Author)

9781108444934, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 30 August 2018

352 pages, 2 maps
22.8 x 15 x 1.9 cm, 0.52 kg

'Performances of injustice is an important book that highlights the limitations of transitional justice. But it does more than that: Lynch provides insight into the specific dynamics of Kenyan politics and the role of impunity in maintaining a highly unequal system of democratic rule, with the possibility of widespread violence lingering very close to the surface. Therefore, this book is a must for those interested in transitional justice, as well as for those interested in Kenyan politics.' Jelke Boesten, Commonwealth and Comparative Politics

Following unprecedented violence in 2007/8, Kenya introduced two classic transitional justice mechanisms: a truth commission and international criminal proceedings. Both are widely believed to have failed, but why? And what do their performances say about contemporary Kenya; the ways in which violent pasts persist; and the shortcomings of transitional justice? Using the lens of performance, this book analyses how transitional justice efforts are incapable of dealing with how unjust and violent pasts actually persist. Gabrielle Lynch reveals the story of an ongoing political struggle requiring substantive socio-economic and political change that transitional justice mechanisms can theoretically recommend, and which they can sometimes help to initiate and inform, but which they cannot implement or create, and can sometimes unintentionally help to reinforce.

Part I. Haunted by Violence: Prologue. A time of violence
1. Confronting the past: transitional justice and the politics of time and performance
2. Framing the good citizen for orderly elections: the prioritisation of peace
3. Enter the International Criminal Court: performing (in) justice
Part II. A Post-South African Truth Commission: 4. The Truth, Justice, and Reconciliation Commission: a sense of once-againness
5. Public hearings: bringing the audience back in
6. Truth's grand narrative (part I): of injustice and suffering
7. 'It is because your tribe is women': of the performance of familiar gender roles
8. Truth's grand narrative (part II): of injustice and impunity
9. 'Only talking won't help:' of justice and reparations
Part III. Familiar Performances: 10. Performed ruptures: Whither reconciliation.

Subject Areas: Criminal justice law [LNFB], Political economy [KCP], Political science & theory [JPA], African history [HBJH]