| The purpose of this study was to determine how staff at NGOs involved primarily with reconciliation work in South Africa understand the term reconciliation, and how their understandings of this term inform their reconciliation work. The study addresses: How NGOs' understandings of this term differ from those of their clients, and whose definitions matter most when addressing reconciliation needs of individuals within a larger project of national healing; how the work of reconciliation NGOs contributes to the balance between remembering the past while forging ahead with development; why, despite all of the reconciliation rhetoric do certain groups and individuals continue to be marginalized so many years after institutionalized liberation; and how the work of South African reconciliation NGOs constitutes a social movement.;Chapter one outlines the research design, providing an introduction to the significance of reconciliation work in South Africa. Chapter two is a multidisciplinary literature review, providing projected contributions to the fields of peace and conflict studies, communication, and international education.;Chapter three, "Making National Reconciliation Personal," differentiates between South Africa's national project of reconciliation and the quests for intrapersonal, interpersonal, interracial, and intercultural healing.;Chapter four, "Balancing Reconciling the Past with Moving On," argues that reconciliation is a balancing act (Bhargava, 2000), discussing how individuals' reconciliation needs must not be sacrificed for the sake of development and democratization.;Chapter five, "Reconciling Formerly Marginalized Identities in the Rainbow Nation," explores the work of reconciliation NGO staff and their programs, focusing on marginalized identity as a result of gender, class, race, HIV and AIDS, and sexual orientation.;Chapter six, "Reconciliation as a Social Movement," discusses the ways reconciliation NGOs, their staff, and their clients may be construed as primary agents of change in a South African reconciliation movement. .;Lastly, chapter seven concludes with practical and policy recommendations for the way forward for reconciliation work in South Africa. |
