Facing the Violent Past

How do societies emerging from violence rebuild, and what mechanisms do they employ to punish past perpetrators, to come to terms with difficult pasts, to acknowledge the suffering of victims, and to try to nurture democratic processes that will prevent future violence? This podcast series was developed in conjunction with a course offered at Columbia University that examines the ways in which societies have addressed the questions of accountability and the challenge of “dealing with the past” in the aftermath of political transition and violent conflict that have marked the last half century. In particular, the course examined the discourse around “historical wrongs,” and attempts—international, national, local—to address such wrongs. The question of how societies can address historical wrongs is a question that ultimately requires us to consider the relationship between history, memory, trauma and justice. Why does the past matter? Does the pursuit of justice limit, or compromise, the work that historians are expected to do? What new ways of thinking about history have emerged in the period we are examining (we can think about testimony, museums, sites, literature to name just a few)? In exploring these questions, this series allows students to consider what is necessary for societies to deal with violent pasts, and the success and limitations that the discourse and practice of historical justice suggests when it comes to questions of prevention and repair.