Project: After all that Reconciliation: Memory and Human Rights after South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission

Nontsasa Nako obtained her doctorate in Philosophy, Interpretation and Culture, an interdisciplinary program at the University of Binghamton, NY. She is a senior lecturer in Medial, Language and Culture at the Durban University of Technology. She has previously held postdoctoral fellowships with the University of Johannesburg and Nelson Mandela University in South Africa. Her work concerns black women as producers of knowledge about their experiences. Her research projects have therefore been necessarily interdisciplinary and have explored gender, transitional justice, disability and memory studies, and black women’s narratives in The South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission. She has published books chapters and journal articles on the TRC, disability, sexuality, gender, and memory.

In line with her research interests, Nontsasa’s research at MIASA will explore the memory and justice legacy of the TRC. Titled “After all that reconciliation” the project analyses the fall out from the Life Esidimeni tragedy in light of prevailing memorialization efforts in South Africa.