The Sum of Its Parts

• Author: Susan M. Glisson
• DOI: 10.1177/2153368715572049
• Published date: 01 April 2015
• Date: 01 April 2015
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

The Sum of Its Parts: The

Importance of Deconstructing

Truth Commissions

Susan M. Glisson

1

Abstract

Over 30 countries have created truth commissions to investigate human rights abuses

and to make recommendations about addressing those abuses. Most of them have

been in countries transitioning from authoritarian governments to democracies. Only

one truth commission has been successfully implemented in the United States, in

Greensboro, North Carolina, and it faced great hurdles. This article will address

attempts to create a truth and reconciliation commission in the state of Mississippi and

the lessons learned for establishing a truth commission within a democratic context. It

will argue that, for the particular historical context of the United States, truth com-

missions must be deconstructed to their component parts and implemented as

simultaneous tools in a truth process tool kit. In short, I argue that truth processes

must be defined for each country’s sociopolitical context and may include ‘‘rituals of

atonement,’’ changing the geography of memory with historical tours and markers,

the creation and implementation of school curriculum and community development,

changing the narratives of communities known for violence, and creating partnerships

of advocacy and policy groups to seek new institutional reforms that undo the

structures of oppression and replace them with equitable ones.

Keywords

Restorative Justice, Truth Commissions, Mississippi

Over the last three decades, a number of countries previously controlled by author-

itarian regimes have overthrown those governments. In efforts to rebuild their soci-

eties, many of these countries transitioning from dictatorships or repressive

governments to democracies have come to use a truth and reconciliation process to aid

1

William Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation, University of Mississippi, University, MS, USA

Corresponding Author:

Susan M. Glisson, William Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation, University of Mississippi, P.O. Box

1848, University, MS 38677, USA.

Email: glisson@winterinstitute.org

Race and Justice

2015, Vol. 5(2) 192-202

ªThe Author(s) 2015

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DOI: 10.1177/2153368715572049

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