Remaking Transitional Justice in the United States

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xvii

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2. The Problem of Power: Authorizing a Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Greensboro, North Carolina

   • James Edward Beitler III

   Pages 1-27

3. The Rhetorical Tradition of Transitional Justice

   • James Edward Beitler III

   Pages 29-50

4. “A Person is a Person Through Other Persons”: Reaccentuating Ubuntu in Greensboro

   • James Edward Beitler III

   Pages 51-74

5. Reaccentuating Representivity in Greensboro

   • James Edward Beitler III

   Pages 75-100

6. Redefining “Truth Commission”: Definitional Maneuvering in the Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Final Report

   • James Edward Beitler III

   Pages 101-126

7. “Inescapable Networks of Mutuality”: The Development of Transitional Justice in the United States

   • James Edward Beitler III

   Pages 127-148

8. Back Matter

   Pages 149-157

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​Remaking Transitional Justice in the United States: The Rhetoric of the Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission  explores rhetorical attempts to authorize the Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission—a grassroots, U.S.-based truth commission created in 2004 toredress past injustices in the city. Through detailed rhetorical analyses, the book demonstratesthat the development of the field of transitional justice has given rise to a transnational rhetorical tradition that provides those working in the field with series of “enabling constraints.” The book then shows how Greensboro stakeholders attempted to reaccentuate this rhetorical tradition in their rhetorical performances to construct authority and bring about justice, even as the tradition shaped their discourse in ways that limited the scope of their responses. Calling attention to the rhetorical interdependence among practitioners of transitional justice, this study offers insights into the development of transitional justice in the United States and in grassroots contexts in other liberal democracies. The volume is a relevant guide to scholars and practitioners of transitional justice as it brings into relief mechanisms of transitional justice that are frequently overlooked—namely, rhetorical mechanisms. It also speaks to any readers who may be interested in the communicative strategies/tactics that may be employed by grassroots transitional justice initiatives.

• Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission
• South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission
• discourse of transitional justice
• restitution for past injustices
• rhetoric of transitional justice
• transnational truth commissions

• Feinstein College of Arts and Sciences, Roger Williams University, Bristol, USA

  James Edward Beitler III

James E. Beitler is an Assistant Professor of Writing Studies, Rhetoric, and Composition at Roger Williams University in Bristol, Rhode Island. His dissertation—which was completed at the University of Michigan in 2009—explores the rhetorical activity of the Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission.