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June 2022 Vol. 59 No. 10

The Anthropology of Peace and Reconciliation investigates how truth, justice, and healing manifest (or do not manifest) in different ways in various post-repressive contexts. The author's primary and secondary research illustrates that universal assumptions about what is necessary to achieve peace and reconciliation, terms he discusses and problematizes, can be dangerous and may miss the mark for particular cultural and political contexts. Eltringham (Univ. of Sussex, UK) also highlights that depending on one’s identity and level of power in local communities, perceptions of what needs to be done or avoided to achieve peace and reconciliation may differ drastically. Furthermore, when states or international bodies appropriate terms and processes considered to be “traditional,” they may be traditional in name only and may reinforce hierarchies of power that marginalize women or other disadvantaged groups. Eltringham offers examples from several different international contexts, including (but not limited to) Rwanda, Cambodia, the former Yugoslavia, Indonesia, South Africa, and the Holocaust. This book covers a lot of material. Some chapters, such as “Seeking ‘truth’ in the aftermath of violent conflict,” “International criminal justice,” and “Memorial sites” are worthy of books of their own.

--K. Sorensen, Bentley University

Summing Up: Recommended. General readers through faculty; professionals.