Memory culture and Urban reconstruction: The case of Staro Sajmište in Belgrade

Abstract

Transitional justice is usually associated with international criminal courts and tribunals, but criminal justice is merely one way of dealing with the legacy of conflict and atrocity. Justice is not only a matter of law. It is a process of making sense of the past and accepting the possibility of a shared future together, although perpetrators, victims and bystanders may have very different memories and perceptions, experiences and expectations.

This book goes further than providing a legal analysis of the effectiveness of transitional justice and presents a wider perspective. It is a critical appraisal of the different dimensions of the process of transitional justice that affects the imagery and constructions of past experiences and perceptions of conflict. Examining hidden histories of atrocities, public trials and memorialization, processes and rituals, artistic expressions and contradictory perceptions of past conflicts, the book constructs what transitional justice and the imagery involved can mean for a better understanding of the processes of justice, truth and reconciliation.

In transcending the legal, although by no means denying the significance of law, the book also represents a multidisciplinary, holistic approach to justice and includes contributions from criminal and international lawyers, cultural anthropologists, criminologists, political scientists and historians