Exploring transitional justice in educational research

This paper provides an overview of the development of transitional justice as a field of practice and area of scholarly research before exploring the relationships between education and transitional justice. It has been drafted by members of the JustED team to provide background into one of the types of justice – transitional justice – that the project focuses on.

In developing this overview, the paper outlines key elements of the approach that the JustED will take to understanding and engaging with transitional justice, including by arguing for a focus on transformative, reparative transitional justice that includes material, symbolic and pedagogical actions to redress the wrongs of the past, including those linked to colonial, imperial and capitalist oppression and extraction.

The second half of the paper introduces the historical and contemporary context for transitional justice in the focus countries of JustEd – Nepal, Uganda and Peru. We show how the transitional justice has developed in each country, to differing degrees, and suggest some of the ways that JustED will particularly focus attention on aspects of transitional justice in education and from young people’s perspectives.