Situating social imaginaries in transitional justice: the "Bushingantahe" in Burundi

The use of customary institutions and mechanisms is increasingly presented as a solution to operational problems of justice in general and transitional justice in particular. Based on historical research and several months of fieldwork in rural Burundi between 2007 and 2010, this article argues that...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Ingelaere, Bert (Author)
Contributors: Kohlhagen, Dominik
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Published: 2012
In: International journal of transitional justice
Year: 2012, Volume: 6, Issue: 1, Pages: 40-59
Online Access: Presumably Free Access
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Keywords:
Konflikt
Auswirkung
Nation
Versöhnung
Vergangenheitsbewältigung
Strafverfolgung
Transitional Justice
Recht
Tradition
Konfliktlösung
Traditionale Kultur
Bürgerkrieg
Civil Wars
Burundi
Description
Summary:The use of customary institutions and mechanisms is increasingly presented as a solution to operational problems of justice in general and transitional justice in particular. Based on historical research and several months of fieldwork in rural Burundi between 2007 and 2010, this article argues that both attempts, mainly by the Burundian government, to sideline the ‘traditional’ bashingantahe councils as day-to-day mediators and potentially important actors in the transitional justice process, and strategies, mainly used by international donors and organizations, to rehabilitate and modernize the institution, are obscuring the issue at stake. A shift in focus from the bashingantahe as an institution to the bushingantahe as an organizing principle of social existence is needed. Forms of social imaginaries such as the bushingantahe should be taken into account as sources and outcomes of (transitional) justice.
Physical Description:Lit.Hinw.
ISSN:1752-7724
DOI:10.1093/ijtj/ijr033