Memory Frictions: Localizing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Sierra Leone

This paper concerns the frictions of engagement when transitionaljustice mechanisms are implemented in local contexts. My focusis the practice of truth-telling as part of a global paradigmof redemptive memory. I first trace the genealogy of this paradigm,examining how it came to appear ‘natural’ and ‘universal.’Second, I explore struggles over memory that ensued when SierraLeone's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) assertivelypromoted this paradigm in a region in which alternative memorytechniques reflected popular priorities in an unstable contextof ‘no peace, no war.’ These struggles were rootednot only in the contested content of memories, but also in aperceived incommensurability between contrasting memory projectsbelieved to have divergent implications for processes of reconstruction.Finally, I examine the significance of reparations both forlocal practices of post-war memory and for the local effectivenessof the TRC.