Dr Rebekka Friedman will speak about her new book, Competing Memories: Truth and Reconciliation in Sierra Leone and Peru. Dr Friedman, who lectures on transitional justice and reconciliation at King’s College London, analyzes the interaction and impact of formal and informal justice, memory and reconciliation processes in rural and urban areas of Sierra Leone and Peru. The book highlights the importance of context in transitional justice. She discusses both the challenges and possibilities of reconciliation following protracted social conflicts.

Dr. Rebekka Friedman is Lecturer of Gender and International Relations in the Department of War Studies at King’s College London. Her research focuses on the intersection transitional justice, peace-building, gender, memory, and reconciliation. She has conducted in-depth field research experience on formal and informal transitional justice, healing and reconciliation processes in rural and urban areas of Sierra Leone Peru, Colombia and Sri Lanka. Her book, Competing Memories: Truth and Reconciliation in Sierra Leone and Peru (Cambridge University Press), came out in August 2017. She is co-editor (with Kirsten Ainley and Chris Mahony) of Evaluating Transitional Justice: Accountability and Peacebuilding in Post-Conflict Sierra Leone (Palgrave 2015). She is a former editor of Millennium: Journal of International Studies. She is currently carrying out a two-year research project funded by the ESRC on gender, marginalization and recovery, entitled, Hidden Voices (hiddenvoices.co.uk).