Finding a Voice: Silence and its Significance for Transitional Justice

Clark, Janine Natalya

doi:10.1177/0964663919856685

Cited by 8 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 98 publications

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“…This is evidenced by statements such as ‘if she has got justice yet’ and ‘they ignored it’, which are criticisms of transitional justice institutions that did not provide justice and ignored the plight of a victim. This type of criticism is a form of ‘infrapolitics’, or everyday resistance (Clark, 2020: 369). It is muffled and indirect resistance that is made up of many small acts, such as the statements earlier (Scott, 2005: 65).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This restraint is enabling, since it allows the individuals to avoid conflict and thus to continue their exchange, however limited it might be. This is a coping strategy in an insecure post-conflict context, where interactions with the formerly opposed ethnic group can be difficult (Clark, 2020: 369). It is actively making a claim by saying nothing.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They can express agency, including discontent and opposition. Like silence, these responses can be used as a form of resistance (Clark, 2020: 368). They can be enabling, because they can make claims and exercise individual authority in the face of power (Mannergren Selimovic, 2020: 11).…”

Section: Interpreting ‘Don’t Know’ Responses In Transitional Justicementioning

confidence: 99%

“…They maintain peace by actively disengaging from interactions (Ring, 2006: 163). Restraint can thus enable post-conflict communities to function without further bloodshed (Clark, 2020: 369). Individuals maintain a peaceful status quo by avoiding, abstaining and restraining from attempts at transitional justice and they can be viewed as potential agents of change (Shaw and Waldorf, 2010: 13).…”

Section: Interpreting ‘Don’t Know’ Responses In Transitional Justicementioning

confidence: 99%

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Claims to ignorance as a form of participation in transitional justice

Sokolić¹

2022

Cooperation and Conflict

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Transitional justice is premised on participation that allows local publics to construct, critique and have some ownership over the process. The current scholarship assumes that individuals openly express their views of the process, or that they remain silent. The scholarship has neglected a third, significant form of participation: active withholding of views by saying ‘I don’t know’. This article examines such claims to ignorance and argues that they can provide insight into participation. While both qualitative and quantitative researchers of transitional justice have observed a pervasive pattern of high ‘don’t know’ responses, such claims to ignorance have not been studied. This article develops a theoretical framework that shows that ‘don’t know’ responses are a valuable source of information and argues that they are often an expression of a lack of willingness to respond, rather than genuine ignorance. Drawing on an original corpus of data collected through inter-ethnic focus groups and surveys conducted in four former Yugoslav countries, the study demonstrates how claims to ignorance are constructed as novel manifestations of resistance, restraint or disentitlement. These point to a rejection of transitional justice, which needs to be addressed if individuals are to feel like legitimate participants in the process.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Interpreting ‘Don’t Know’ Responses In Transitional Justicementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Interpreting ‘Don’t Know’ Responses In Transitional Justicementioning

confidence: 99%

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Claims to ignorance as a form of participation in transitional justice

Sokolić¹

2022

Cooperation and Conflict

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“…Conditioned by shame and social stigma, which are linked to constructions and expectations of masculinities in both contexts, most survivors chose to remain silent within their private spheres, however, in order to protect themselves from possible negative implications regarding their masculine identities. Rather than portraying silence as ubiquitously negative and passive (Parpart and Parashar, 2018), these examples illustrate protective, strategic, and agentive silences (Keating, 2013; Thomson, 2019) that ‘can aid in the development of more agentic and contextually sensitive ways of dealing with the past’ (Clark, 2019: 1), including gendered harms and vulnerabilities.…”

Section: Exploring Male Survivors’ Agencymentioning

confidence: 99%

Navigating vulnerabilities and masculinities: How gendered contexts shape the agency of male sexual violence survivors

Touquet

Schulz

2020

Security Dialogue

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In dominant global conceptions of conflict-related sexual violence, the experiences of male survivors, if attended to at all, have thus far almost exclusively been analysed in terms of vulnerabilities. Drawing on empirical evidence from two different cases (Uganda and Croatia), in this article we argue that essentializing and static generalizations of ‘emasculation’ fail to do justice to the complexity of male survivors’ experiences. We show that, in the two cases we examine, male survivors exercise agency and find different ways of engaging with their harmful experiences. Survivors’ agency is shaped and conditioned by different opportunity structures, and thus largely dependent on local gender relations and constructions of masculinity. To build our argument, we take inspiration from feminist international relations scholarship highlighting the active roles of women and girls as agents within the context of armed conflict, extending such analysis to the experiences of male survivors of sexual violence. By systematically analysing the forms and conditions of the agency of male survivors of sexual violence, we offer a more holistic examination of the dynamics of wartime sexual violence, contributing conceptually and empirically to research both on local/civilian agency in wartime and on conflict-related sexual violence.

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