Literature, Truth and Transitional Justice
Western Sydney University, Bankstown campus, 1-2 October 2014
Matt McGuire and Chris Andrews have edited a book titled Post-Conflict Literature(opens in a new window) based on the presentations at this event.
What is the role of literature in the aftermath of political conflict? How might literary texts inform the broader discourses around transitional justice, historical reckoning and social reconciliation? Can a work of fiction constitute a truth commission in its own right? Might it function as a form of therapeutic storytelling, an aide-memoire, a discursive space in which a traumatic history might be articulated and exorcised?
The symposium poses these questions in various national contexts, with papers on works set in Northern Ireland, South Africa, Germany, Brazil and Guatemala, among other countries. While remaining attentive to the deep historical and cultural differences between the situations considered, the symposium explores possibilities for the comparative study of literatures written in the wake of political violence.
The symposium is proposed in the conviction that literature offers a unique perspective on peace processes and their fragility, and may therefore valuably inform our attempts to right the wrongs of the past and shape a better tomorrow.
Read or download the symposium program (PDF, 78.88 KB) (opens in a new window).
Symposium Participants and audio recordings
Dorothy Driver (University of Adelaide) 
Tony Simoes da Silva (University of Wollongong) on Haunted Imaginaries: Transition
in Nadine Gordimer's South Africa
Listen to Tony's paper (right click and "save link as" to download).
Idelber Avelar (Tulane University) on The Brazilian dictatorship and the Amazon
Listen to Idelber's paper (right click and "save link as" to download).
Magdalena Zolkos (Australian Catholic University) on Justice, the Confessional, and the Violin: Jaume Cabre's Confessions
Listen to Magdalena's paper (right click and "save link as" to download).
Cahal McLaughlin (Queens University Belfast)
Michael Humphrey (University of Sydney) and Estela Valverde (Macquarie University) on From private to public witnessing: transitional justice and the revision of official memory of the Dirty War in Argentina
Listen to Michael and Estela's paper (right click and "save link as" to download).
Chris Andrews (Western Sydney University) on Rodrigo Rey Rosa and the Perils of Truth Recovery
Listen to Chris' paper (right click and "save link as" to download).
Roseanne Kennedy (Australian National University) and Alison Lewis (Melbourne University)
Literature, Conflict and the Pursuit of Justice in Memoirs from Sierra Leone
Listen to Roseanne's paper (right click and "save link as" to download).
Therapeutic Storytelling or Fictionalised Pathography?: literature by former Stasi agents
Listen to Alison's paper (right click and "save link as" to download).
Eamonn Hughes (Queens University Belfast) on Metaphors and Metonyms: culture and education in the Good Friday Agreement
Listen to Eamonn's paper (right click and "save link as" to download).
Matt McGuire (Western Sydney University) on 'Hope, History and Rhyme: Poetry and the Legacy of the Troubles
Listen to Matt's paper (right click and "save link as" to download).
