Narrative inequality in the TRC hearings
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Jan Blommaert✝
Abstract
South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission victim hearings were a highly unusual discourse event in which previously silenced and powerless people were offered a prestigious public forum and speech format to tell about their experiences of human rights violations. However, despite the equal access offered to victims for the telling of their stories, pre-existing inequalities persisted and were reflected in the relative ‘hearability’ of these stories. We use the concept of ‘pretextuality’ to account for the relative hearability. The concept refers to the varying degrees of competence in language varieties, literacy and narrative skills that people bring with them to a communicative interaction, and which influence the impact of their narratives. Through detailed analysis of selected testimonies, we demonstrate ways in which the inequalities suggested above emerged in the hearings.
Abstract
South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission victim hearings were a highly unusual discourse event in which previously silenced and powerless people were offered a prestigious public forum and speech format to tell about their experiences of human rights violations. However, despite the equal access offered to victims for the telling of their stories, pre-existing inequalities persisted and were reflected in the relative ‘hearability’ of these stories. We use the concept of ‘pretextuality’ to account for the relative hearability. The concept refers to the varying degrees of competence in language varieties, literacy and narrative skills that people bring with them to a communicative interaction, and which influence the impact of their narratives. Through detailed analysis of selected testimonies, we demonstrate ways in which the inequalities suggested above emerged in the hearings.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- About the Authors vii
-
Articles
- The language of remembering and forgetting 1
- The debate on truth and reconciliation 13
- Narrative inequality in the TRC hearings 33
- Critical discourse analysis as an analytic tool in considering selected, prominent features of TRC testimonies 65
- South African Novelists and the Grand Narrative of Apartheid 89
- Linguistic Bearings and Testimonial Practices 101
- History in the making/The making of history 115
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- About the Authors vii
-
Articles
- The language of remembering and forgetting 1
- The debate on truth and reconciliation 13
- Narrative inequality in the TRC hearings 33
- Critical discourse analysis as an analytic tool in considering selected, prominent features of TRC testimonies 65
- South African Novelists and the Grand Narrative of Apartheid 89
- Linguistic Bearings and Testimonial Practices 101
- History in the making/The making of history 115
