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Abstract.
Transitional justice discourse and practice is imbued with assumptions about the liberatory power of speech, and constructs silence as a marker of absence, pathology or continuing repression. This article unsettles these assumptions by examining some of the ‘everyday’ ways in which East Timorese people are seeking to rebuild their lives in the aftermath of the Indonesian occupation. Close attention to everyday strategies and practices of social repair brings to the fore the ‘civil’ and ‘pragmatic’ dimensions of silence, while also underscoring the significance of relational and embodied forms of communication in the Timor-Leste context. I conclude that, rather than viewing silence as a ‘problem’, more attention should be paid to its diverse meanings, and to the rich realm of everyday life in which they are embedded.
Notes
1 Doxtader Eric ‘The Quietude of Transitional Justice: Five Rhetorical Questions' (2015) 6(1) African Yearbook of Rhetoric 23 at 35.
2 Ross Fiona ‘On Having Voice and Being Heard’ (2003) 3(3) Anthropological Theory 325. See also Wilson Richard The Politics of Truth and Reconciliation in South Africa Cambridge University Press Cambridge 2001.
3 Speech by Sergio Viera De Mello in Huang Reiko and Gunn Geoffrey ‘Reconciliation as State-Building in East Timor’ (2004) Lusotopie 19 at 30.
4 Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation (CAVR) Chega! CAVR Dili Timor-Leste 2005 Executive Summary p 33.
5 As above at Part 7.7 p 5.
6 Eastmond Marita and Selimovic Johanna Mannergren ‘Silence as Possibility in Postwar Everyday Life’ (2012) 6 The International Journal of Transitional Justice 502.
7 See, for example, Hamber Brandon ‘Does the Truth Heal? A Psychological Perspective on the Political Strategies for Dealing with the Legacy of Political Violence’ in Biggar Neil (ed.) Burying the Past: Making Peace and Doing Justice after Civil Conflict George Town University Press Washington 2001 p 155.
8 See, for example, Shaw Rosalind ‘Memory Frictions: Localizing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Sierra Leone’ (2007) 1(2) International Journal of Transitional Justice 183.
9 See, for example, Ross Fiona ‘An Acknowledged Failure: Women, Voice, Violence and the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission’ in Shaw Rosalind and Waldorf Lars (eds) Localizing Transitional Justice: Interventions and Priorities after Mass Violence Stanford University Press Stanford California 2010 p 69.
10 As above at 75.
11 See, for example, Stanley Elizabeth Torture, Truth and Justice: The Case of Timor Leste Routledge New York & London 2009 p 117; Kent Lia The Dynamics of Transitional Justice: International Models and Local Realities in East Timor Routledge New York & London 2012 p 101. The CAVR itself acknowledged that many women victims of sexual violence did not report these cases to the Commission because of the fear of social or family humiliation or rejection. See CAVR above note 4 at Part 7.7 p 109.
12 Guthrey Holly ‘How Does the Truth Heal? An Exploration of Voice and Pathways toward Victim Healing in Solomon Islands and Timor-Leste’ Unpublished PhD Thesis University of Otago New Zealand 2013 p 62 and 121; Kent above note 11 at 152.
13 Ross above note 9 at 79.
14 Franke Katherine M ‘Gendered Subjects of Transitional Justice’ (2006) 15(3) Columbia Journal of Gender and Law 813.
15 Rawski Frederick ‘Truth-Seeking and Local Histories in East Timor’ (2002) 3(1) Asia Pacific Journal on Human Rights and the Law 77.
16 See, for example, Nesiah Vasuki ‘Missionary Zeal for a Secular Mission: Bringing Gender to Transitional Justice and Redemption to Feminism’ in Kouvo Sari and Pearson Zoe (eds) Feminist Perspectives on Contemporary International Law: Between Resistance and Compliance? Hart Publishing Oxford & Portland 2011 p 151. See Ross above note 9 at 84.
17 See, for example, Eastmond and Selimovic above note 6; Uvin Peter and Nee Ann ‘Silence and Dialogue: Burundians’ Alternatives to Transitional Justice’ in Shaw Rosalind and Waldorf Lars (eds) Localizing Transitional Justice: Interventions and Priorities after Mass Violence Stanford University Press Stanford California 2010 at 157; Argeti-Pillen Alex Masking Terror: How Women Contain Violence in Southern Sri Lanka University of Pennsylvania Press Philadelphia 2013; Baines Erin ‘Spirits and Social Reconstruction after Mass Violence: Rethinking Transitional Justice’ (2010) 109(436) African Affairs 409; Baines Erin and Gauvin Lara Rosenoff ‘Motherhood and Social Repair after War and Displacement in Northern Uganda’ (2014) Journal of Refugee Studies 282; Igreja Victor ‘Multiple Temporalities in Indigenous Justice and Healing Practices in Mozambique’ (2012) 6(3) International Journal of Transitional Justice 1; Alcala Pilar Riano and Baines Erin ‘Editorial Note’ (2012) 6 International Journal of Transitional Justice 385; Grunebaum Heidi Memorializing the Past: Everyday Life in South Africa after the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Transaction Publishers New York & London 2011; Gready Paul ‘Reconciliation, Relationships and the Everyday’ in Gready Paul The Era of Transitional Justice: The Aftermath of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa and Beyond Routledge New York & London 2011 p 195.
18 Grunebaum above note 17 at 117. See also Alcala and Baines above note 17.
19 Das Veena ‘Trauma and Testimony: Implications for Political Community’ (2003) 3 (3) Anthropological Theory 293 at 300.
20 Alcala and Baines above note 17 at 386.
21 Das Veena and Kleinman Arthur ‘Introduction’ in Das Veena Kleinman Arthur Lock Margaret Ramphele Mamphela and Reynolds Pamela (eds) Remaking a World: Testimony, Trauma and Social Suffering University of California Press Berkeley California & London 2001 p 1–2.
22 See, for example, Field Annette ‘Places of Suffering and Pathways to Healing: Post-Conflict Life in Bidau, East Timor’ Unpublished PhD thesis James Cook University 2004; Robins Simon Families of the Missing: A Test for Contemporary Approaches to Transitional Justice Routledge New York & London 2013; Bovensiepen Judith The Land of Gold: Post-Conflict Recovery and Cultural Revival in Independent Timor-Leste Cornell University Southeast Asia Program Publications (SEAP) Ithaca 2015; McWilliam Andrew ‘Fataluku Healing and Cultural Resilience in East Timor’ (2008) 73(2) Ethnos: Journal of Anthropology 217.
23 Field above note 22.
24 See, for example, Bovensiepen above note 22; McWilliam above note 22.
25 See, for example, Kidron Carol ‘Toward an Ethnography of Silence: The Lived Presence of the Past among Holocaust Trauma Descendants in Israel’ (2009) 50(1) Current Anthropology 7.
26 Eastmond and Selimovic above note 6.
27 See, for example, Guthrey above note 12.
28 Eastmond and Selimovic above note 6 at 515.
29 As above; Uvin and Nee above note 17.
30 Eastmond and Selimovic above note 6 at 522.
31 Uvin and Nee above note 17 at 166.
32 As above at 173.
33 Eastmond and Selimovic above note 6 at 515.
34 As above at 514; see also Beck Teresa Koloma ‘Forgetting the Embodied Past: Body Memory in Transitional Justice’ in Buckley-Zistel Susanne Beck Teresa Koloma Braun Christian and Mieth Friederike (eds) Transitional Justice Theories Routledge Oxon & New York 2014 p 196.
35 Alcala and Baines above note 17 at 388.
36 Connerton Paul ‘Seven Types of Forgetting’ (2008) 1 Memory Studies 59. See also Beck above note 34.
37 Hansen Lene ‘The Little Mermaid's Silent Security Dilemma and the Absence of Gender in the Copenhagen School’ (2000) 29 Millenium: Journal of International Studies 285.
38 See Obrdovic-Wochnik Jelena ‘The “Silent Dilemma” of Transitional Justice: Silencing and Coming to Terms with the Past in Serbia’ (2011) 7 The International Journal of Transitional Justice 336.
39 Eastmond and Selimovic above note 6 at 503.
40 Uvin and Nee above note 17 at 174; Beck above note 34 at 196; see also Buckley-Zistel Susanne ‘Remembering to Forget: Chosen Amnesia as a Strategy for Local Coexistence in Post-Genocide Rwanda’ (2005) 76 Africa 131.
41 CAVR above note 4 at Part 7.7.
42 As above at Part 7.7 p 2.
43 For a more detailed discussion of the project see Kent Lia ‘Narratives of Suffering and Endurance: Coercive Sexual Relationships, Truth Commissions and Possibilities for Gender Justice in Timor-Leste’ (2014) 8(2) International Journal of Transitional Justice 289.
44 These researchers were based at the ICTJ and the Alola Foundation.
45 All interviews were conducted in Tetum and organised in a flexible manner to enable the women to tell their own stories in their own way. Interviews were recorded and later transcribed and translated into English. Interviews were also conducted on the basis that women's names would be changed in any public documents.
46 As in all researcher encounters, there were inevitably power relations between researcher and participants. These relations of power may have had an influence on the information women chose to reveal or not reveal and the ways they chose to tell their stories.
47 The term ‘public secret’ refers to the knowledge of what not to know. See Taussig Michael Defacement: Public Secrecy and the Labor of the Negative Stanford University Press Palo Alto 1999 p 2.
48 McWilliam Andrew and Traube Elizabeth ‘Land and Life in Timor-Leste’ in McWilliam Andrew and Traube Elizabeth (eds) Land and Life in Timor-Leste: Ethnographic Essays ANU E Press Canberra 2011 p 3.
49 Niner Sara ‘Barlake: An Exploration of Marriage Practices and Issues of Women's Status in Timor-Leste’ (2012) 11 Local Global 140.
50 Niner Sara ‘Hakat Klot (Narrow Steps): Negotiating Gender in Post-Conflict Timor-Leste’ (2011) 13(3) International Feminist Journal of Politics 140.
51 For an overview of some of the factors that have informed this narrative see Kent Lia ‘After the Truth Commission: Gender and Citizenship in Timor-Leste’ (2016) 17(1) Human Rights Review 51.
52 Smith Sarah ‘When Gender Started: The United Nations in Post-Occupation Timor-Leste’ (2015) 27(1) Global Change, Peace and Security 55.
53 See Baines and Gauvin above note 17 at 12.
54 See Kent above note 43 at 304.
55 Theidon Kimberly Intimate Enemies: Violence and Reconciliation in Peru University of Pennsylvania Press Philadelphia 2012.
56 Gready above note 17 at 223.
57 See, for example, McWilliam above note 22; Bovensiepen Judith ‘Paying for the Dead: On the Politics of Death in Independent Timor-Leste’ (2014) 15(12) The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology 103; Grenfell Damian ‘Remembering the Dead from the Customary to the Modern in Timor-Leste’ (2012) 11 Local Global 97.
58 McWilliam above note 22 at 225.
59 As above; see also Grenfell above note 57.
60 Bovensiepen above note 57 at 105; McWilliam Andrew, Palmer Lisa and Shepherd Christopher ‘Lulik Encounters and Cultural Frictions in East Timor: Past and Present’ (2014) 25(3) The Australian Journal of Anthropology 304.
61 Bovensiepen above note 57 at 122.
62 As above.
63 As above; McWilliam Palmer and Shepherd above note 60 at 305.
64 Bovensiepen above note 57 at 122.
65 As above at 166.
66 McWilliam above note 22 at 225; Sakti Victoria Kumala ‘Thinking Too Much: Tracing Local Patterns of Emotional Distress after Mass Violence in Timor-Leste’ (2013) 14(5) The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology 438.
67 Bovensiepen above note 57 at 108.
68 Grenfell Damian ‘Of Time and History: The Dead of War, Memory and the National Imaginary in Timor-Leste’ (2015) 48(3) Communication, Politics and Culture 16 at 24.
69 McWilliam above note 22 at 225.
70 Robins Simon An Assessment of the Needs of Families of the Missing in Timor-Leste Report for the Post War Reconstruction and Development Unit (2010) 12 University of York York.
71 FALINTIL (Forces Armadas de Libertacao Nacional de Timor-Leste/Armed Forces for the National Liberation of East Timor).
72 International Crisis Group ‘Timor-Leste: Reconciliation and Return from Indonesia’ Asia Briefing No 122 Crisis Group Dili/Brussels 18 April 2011 p 3.
73 Damaledo Andrey From Refugee to Citizen: An Examination of the Identity of the Ex-East Timorese Refugees in Indonesia Unpublished Masters thesis University of Queensland 2009 p 24.
74 Thu Pyone Myat ‘Displacement and Repatriation in a Rural Timorese Village’ in Ingram Sue, Kent Lia and McWilliam Andrew (eds) A New Era? Timor-Leste after the UN ANU Press Canberra 2015 p 255.
75 Damaledo above note 73.
76 Thu above note 74 at 255.
77 As above at 256.
78 For instance, returnees must relinquish their Indonesian citizenship upon returning to Timor-Leste.
79 Baines and Gauvin above note 17 at 2.
80 As above.
81 As above at 14 citing Corntassel ‘Re-Visioning Resurgence: Indigenous Pathways to Decolonization and Sustainable Self-Determination’ (2012) 1(1) Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education and Society 86 at 88.
82 McWilliam and Traube above note 48 at 15.
83 As above at 2.
84 Palmer Lisa Water Politics and Spiritual Ecology: Custom, Environmental Governance and Development Routledge Oxon & New York 2015 p 148.
85 Robbins Joel ‘Recognition, Reciprocity and Justice: Melanesian Reflections on the Rights of Relationships’ in Clarke Kamari Maxine and Goodale Mark (eds) Mirrors of Justice: Law and Power in the Post-Cold War Era Cambridge University Press Cambridge 2009 p 175.
86 Sakti above note 66 at 449.
87 See McWilliam above note 22 at 218.
88 Theidon above note 55 at 35.
89 Palmer above note 84 at 148.
90 See Igreja above note 17.
91 Grenfell above note 68 at 25.
92 I am grateful to an anonymous reviewer for this insight.
93 Kidron above note 25 at 19.