Transitional justice mechanisms and memory: a look into Mozambique's liberation war narrative

Abstract

This chapter connects the fields of transitional justice and memory studies by looking at the ways in which transitional justice mechanisms shape memory narratives in a given society. To do so, it builds on the case of Mozambique. Soon after the signing of the General Peace Agreement in 1992, the Frelimo-led government approved Amnesty Law 15/92 and with it, the past was to be left in the past. This analysis points, however, to the contrary. The old logic of “the enemy”, first established during the colonial-liberation war, was kept alive with Renamo taking over from the Portuguese colonialism, the Rhodesian racism, and the South African racism as the main character. More importantly, the diachronic reconfiguration of the logic of the “enemy” mirrors the reproduction of a broader memory narrative in which it is inscribed: the liberation war narrative. Focusing on the role of transitional justice mechanisms (TJMs) and resorting to path dependence and critical junctures, this study explains the ways in which such a narrative has become hegemonic throughout the last four decades.