Transitional Justice: An Interdisciplinary Landscape?

Turner, Catherine; Davidovic, Maja

Abstract

This chapter offers an introductory mapping of the ways in which scholarship in the humanities and social sciences has engaged with the foundational concepts of transitional justice. Whereas the field of transitional justice emerged from the disciplines of law and political science, there is now a growing body of work that explicitly engages with its related concepts in other disciplinary spaces. As transitional justice has evolved as a field of research and practice, a range of different disciplinary perspectives have been brought to bear on the central question of how to respond to a legacy of past human rights abuse. This chapter demonstrates how multi-disciplinary scholarship can help us to understand contested meanings of justice, and indeed of transition. Being able to see the boundaries of thought from alternative disciplinary perspectives holds the key to deeper engagement with the foundational questions of transitional justice. Disciplines beyond law give us alternative tools to think about the big questions, such as: where does justice happen? By and for whom? And even: why? This enriches thinking on the core concepts of transitional justice that underpin the field.

Citation

Turner, C., & Davidovic, M. (2023). Transitional Justice: An Interdisciplinary Landscape?. In C. Lawther, & L. Moffet (Eds.), Research Handbook on Transitional Justice (26-43). (2nd edn.). Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781802202519.00011

• Online Publication Date: Aug 11, 2023
• Publication Date: 2023
• Deposit Date: Sep 6, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 12, 2024
• Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
• Pages: 26-43
• Series Title: Research Handbooks in International Law
• Edition: 2nd edn.
• Book Title: Research Handbook on Transitional Justice
• Chapter Number: 3
• ISBN: 9781802202502
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4337/9781802202519.00011
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1621141
• Publisher URL: https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/gbp/research-handbook-on-transitional-justice-9781802202502.html
• Contract Date: Jul 13, 2022