Carefully Considered Words: The Influence of Government on Truth Telling about Japanese Canadian Internment and Indian Residential Schools

Matsunaga, Jennifer

doi:10.1353/ces.2021.0013

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…It is evident, however, that the outcomes of truth commissions are generally far more complex, ambivalent, and ambiguous than the production of a singular narrative of past harms that will function to prevent future harms from being perpetrated. In a comparative study of the outcomes of the Canadian TRC and outcomes of truth-telling on Japanese internment in Canada, Matsunaga (2021) argued that by producing events as unique instances of harm rather than systemic violence, the state aims to protect itself from much more significant acts of restitution. There is the risk that the truths told during formal processes may focus on individual circumstances at the expense of a focus on the ongoing structures of colonialism (Hobbs, 2018), which have always been, and continue to be, the greatest source of harm for Indigenous peoples.…”

Section: Narrative and Memorymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Truth Will Set You Free? The Promises and Pitfalls of Truth‐Telling for Indigenous Emancipation

Maddison

Hurst

Thomas

2023

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

First Nations in Australia are beginning to grapple with processes of treaty‐making with state governments and territories. As these processes gain momentum, truth‐telling has become a central tenet of imagining Indigenous emancipation and the possibility of transforming relationships between Indigenous and settler peoples. Truth, it is suggested, will enable changed ways of knowing what and who “Australia” is. These dynamics assume that truth‐telling will benefit all people, but will truth be enough to compel change and provide an emancipated future for Indigenous people? This article reports on Australian truth‐telling processes in Victoria, and draws on two sets of extant literature to understand the lessons and outcomes of international experience that provide crucial insights for these processes—that on truth‐telling commissions broadly, and that focusing specifically on a comparable settler colonial state process, the Canadian Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The article presents a circumspect assessment of the possibilities for Indigenous emancipation that might emerge through truth‐telling from our perspective as a team of Indigenous and non‐Indigenous critical scholars. We first consider the normative approach that sees truth‐telling as a potentially flawed but worthwhile process imbued with possibility, able to contribute to rethinking and changing Indigenous–settler relations. We then consider the more critical views that see truth‐telling as rehabilitative of the settler colonial state and obscuring ongoing colonial injustices. Bringing this analysis into conversation with contemporary debate on truth‐telling in Australia, we advocate for the simultaneous adoption of both normative and critical perspectives to truth‐telling as a possible way forward for understanding the contradictions, opportunities, and tensions that truth‐telling implies.

show abstract

Section: Narrative and Memorymentioning

confidence: 99%