Diaspora Mobilizations for Transitional Justice

Transitional justice and diaspora studies are interdisciplinary fields that explore how diasporas engage with local actors in transitional justice processes. Diaspora Mobilizations for Transitional Justice provides a framework to demonstrate how diasporas connect with local actors through various mechanisms and their underlying rationales. The book discusses the role of diasporas in truth commissions, memorialization, recognition of genocides, and their ability to affect transitional justice from afar.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 170 pages
Publication date: 01 March 2022
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Transitional justice and diaspora studies are dynamic and rapidly evolving fields of inquiry that draw upon diverse disciplines to explore complex issues. The challenge of finding the appropriate mechanisms to advance transitional justice in post-conflict societies remains a persistent concern for states and affected populations alike. At the same time, diasporas, as non-state actors with increasing agency in their homelands, host countries, and various global locations, engage with their past from a distance, yet their actions and impact remain largely understudied.

Diaspora Mobilizations for Transitional Justice presents a groundbreaking framework that elucidates how diasporas engage with local actors in transitional justice processes through a range of mechanisms and their underlying analytical rationales. These mechanisms encompass emotional, cognitive, symbolic/value-based, strategic, and networks-based approaches. Among the featured mechanisms are thin sympathetic response, chosen trauma, fear and hope, contact and framing, cooperation and coalition-building, brokerage, patronage, and connective action, among others. The contributors to this book delve into the critical role of diasporas in truth commissions, memorialization, recognition of genocides and other human rights atrocities, and their potential to influence transitional justice from afar through holding specific attitudes or upon return temporarily or permanently.

This book offers valuable insights into how diasporas' contextual embeddedness shapes their mobilization strategies. It draws upon empirical evidence from Europe, the United States, and Canada, as well as from conflict and post-conflict polities in the Balkans, the Middle East, Eurasia, and Latin America. Originally published as a special issue of Ethnic and Racial Studies, Diaspora Mobilizations for Transitional Justice contributes to our understanding of the multifaceted roles that diasporas play in shaping transitional processes and promoting justice and reconciliation.

Dimension: 234 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780367511081