Sitze, A: The Impossible Machine

Adam Sitze meticulously traces the origins of South Africa s Truth and Reconciliation Commission back to two well-established instruments of colonial and imperial governance: the jurisprudence of indemnity and the commission of inquiry. This genealogy provides a fresh, though counterintuitive, understanding of the TRC s legal, political, and cultural importance. The TRC s genius, Sitze contends, is not the substitution of forgiving restorative justice for strict legal justice but rather the innovative adaptation of colonial law, sovereignty, and government. However, this also contains a potential liability: if the TRC s origins are forgotten, the very enterprise intended to overturn the jurisprudence of colonial rule may perpetuate it. In sum, Sitze proposes a provocative new means by which South Africa s Truth and Reconciliation Commission should be understood and evaluated."