RT Article
T1 The epistemic violence of transitional justice: a view from Sri Lanka
JF International journal of transitional justice
VO 17
IS 2
SP 322
OP 338
A1 Grewal, Kiran Kaur
LA English
YR 2023
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/186005028X
AB In this article I explore the failures of transitional justice in post-war Sri Lanka. For most commentators this is simply explained in terms of a lack of political will. However, I argue that beyond this transitional justice in Sri Lanka is a story of epistemic violence. This is a result of its over-reliance on abstract, universalist liberal democratic theory that fails to properly grasp the historical, cultural and socio-political specificity not just of the locations where transitional justice is proposed but of the conceptual foundation of transitional justice itself. As a result, transitional justice simultaneously discounts colonial legacies while reproducing colonial categories. In the case of Sri Lanka this has resulted in a failure to fully understand and address the root causes of conflict and an inability to see and draw upon resources for reconciliation, reparation and redress.
K1 Coloniality
K1 epistemic violence
K1 Liberalism
K1 Sri Lanka
DO 10.1093/ijtj/ijad016