Between Western theory and local practice: Cultural impediments to truth‐telling in Sierra Leone

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/crq.20041
• Date: 01 December 2011
• Author: Gearoid Millar
• Published date: 01 December 2011

Between Western Theory and Local Practice:

Cultural Impediments to Truth-Telling in

Sierra Leone

Gearoid Millar

Although truth commissions are thought to provide healing and justice

in postwar situations, some scholars worry that such mechanisms

emerge from Western theories that may be inapplicable in many cul-

tural settings. Based on an ethnographic study of local experiences of the

Truth and Reconciliation Commission for Sierra Leone, this article

describes how local cultural dynamics determine whether truth-telling

is experienced as predicted by peacebuilding theory. This article argues

that the variability of such dynamics, which create unique local con-

ceptual constructs and norms, often militates against the application of

truth-telling processes, and that this was clearly the case in Sierra Leone.

Introduction

Within conflict resolution (CR) we have accepted, to a great extent,

the divisions between peacemaking, peacekeeping, and peacebuild-

ing (Galtung, 1976; Fisher, 1993). As a subfield of CR, peacebuilding can

itself be divided into three different projects: those of state-building, eco-

nomic development, and societal reconciliation and justice (Swedlund,

2011, p. 5). This article is concerned primarily with this third project,

postwar reconciliation and justice. The theories within this area have been

associated with a number of different perspectives: the psychosocial

(Fisher, 2001; Kelman, 2004; Maoz, 2004; Nadler and Schnabel, 2008),

the legal (Orentlicher, 1994, 2007; Mani, 2002; Teitel, 2003; Schabas,

2004), the religious (Tutu, 1999; Little, 2007; Philpott, 2007, 2009), and

more recently, the social or economic (Arbour, 2007; Miller, 2008; Nagy,

CONFLICT RESOLUTION QUARTERLY, vol. 29, no. 2, Winter 2011 177

© Wiley Periodicals, Inc. and the Association for Conflict Resolution

Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) • DOI: 10.1002/crq.20041

2008; Millar, 2011). Another recent perspective, which has proven to be

more critical of postwar reconciliation and justice mechanisms, is the anthro-

pological (Wilson, 2001; Kelsall, 2005; Shaw, 2005, 2007; Honwana, 2006;

Theidon, 2006).

In many ways, however, while anthropologists often critique theories of

reconciliation and justice, their emphasis on the lived experience of post-

war situations rarely leads them to focus on developing those theories. This

article, therefore, attempts to bridge the gap between the peacebuilding

theory and the anthropological critique. By reflecting on findings from an

ethnographic study exploring the experience of the Truth and Reconcilia-

tion Commission (TRC) in postwar Sierra Leone, this article investigates

the “frictions” (Tsing, 2005) that occur between theory and experience,

and hopes to lead to more sensitive peacebuilding practice.

This article examines the conceptual constructs that shape local experi-

ences of Truth Commission (TC) processes. Although alterations in com-

mission structure have allowed different iterations of the model to adjust to

some extent to local demands in individual transitional situations, I argue

that the professionalization of this area of peacebuilding (Kritz, 2009) has

led to a reliance on specific conceptions of reconciliation rooted in Judeo-

Christian theology (Philpott, 2007) and Western theories of psychological

therapy (Pupavac, 2004; Gilligan, 2006). Therefore, although the mecha-

nisms of TC implementation evolve and the specific structures of TCs

change incrementally from case to case, the underlying theories remain the

same, that truth leads to both healing and justice. The purpose of this arti-

cle is, therefore, to describe how this impacts the local experience of a TC

in one setting, thus allowing a detailed description of the cultural elements

that give rise to particular conceptions of healing and justice and therefore

impose on the local reception of a TC process.

I proceed by providing brief overviews of the conflict in Sierra Leone

and of the theories that guide the administration of TCs in postwar set-

tings. I then review past engagement with conceptions of culture within

CR theory, and describe the local experiences of healing and justice in

response to the TRC’s work in northern Sierra Leone. I next investigate the

difficulty of administering international projects in local settings by explor-

ing the complicated cultural context within which those experiences are

embedded and describing their impact on the practice of the TRC. I con-

clude the article with recommendations for overcoming the problems

experienced by the TRC in Sierra Leone in future postwar reconciliation

projects.

178 MILLAR

CONFLICT RESOLUTION QUARTERLY• DOI: 10.1002/crq