Re(conceal)iation: the Fantasy of Healing and the Power of Forgetting in the Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission
Year: 2024
Type: dissertation
Abstract: This thesis examines the rhetoric that scaffolds the Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission, a institution that was formed twenty years after the Greensboro massacre in an attempt to “heal” the community from a history of racially motivated violence. Starting at the intersection between memory, apologia, and dialogue this thesis investigates the aspirations and limitations that defined GTRC and its conclusions. Specifically, I investigate the testimony given to the commission from several groups including the Communist Party, the Klan, and the police. I intervene in rhetorical conceptions of reconciliation, and what it means to recuperate the past at the behest of a community that requires forgiveness. I argue that the venue of the truth commission requires certain conciliatory moves from the speakers in order to make the final product legible to publics defined by liberalism.
Author: Graham, Noah
Language: English
Subfield: Communication
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W6986829517