Transitional justice and reparations in Tanzania and Germany : Actors’ perceptions, their causes and implications for responsibility and power relations

Sammanfattning

In this thesis, I analyze the differing perceptions regarding transitional justice and reparations in the postcolonial context of Tanzania and Germany of involved actors. Causes for these diverse perceptions and conceptualizations along with implications for responsibility and power relations were focused upon. These perceptions influence the lately growing momentum of discussions and demands for transitional justice and reparations between former colonizers and formerly colonized countries. By analyzing political statements, two speeches, newspaper articles, and partly self-conducted interviews of political as well as civil society actors and scholars, the research contributes insights into causes for differences and intentions of the various actors involved. The analysis is conducted, employing discourse analysis following Winther Jørgensen and Phillips and the postcolonial concepts of colonial Legacy, Power, and Subaltern Voices along the constructivist concepts: Norms & Identity and Agency & Contestation. To analyze the political apology of the German President I used Zoodsma et al.’s coding families (2021) for a holistic apology. I demonstrate the interconnectedness of the applied concepts and the states’ focus on reconciliation instead of holistic transitional justice mechanisms, promoting the countries’ political and economic cooperation. Moreover, I argue that subaltern voices, descendants of victims are mostly marginalized in the political discussions of both the Tanzanian and German state.