Race and Reconciliation in South Africa

Book excerpt: In the mid-1990s the Truth and Reconciliation Commission disclosed its findings on the awful reality of the apartheid era in South Africa. The Commission inspired scholars from Europe, North America, and South Africa to convene a group of their own, to investigate in multicultural, scholarly dialogue the history, theology, philosophy, and politics of race and reconciliation in South Africa. This volume is the product of that important dialogue. And while the focus is the particular environment of South Africa, the contributors work within a comparative perspective, using examples from other nations and cultures to explore that which makes South Africa unique. Ultimately, the book aims to offer not only a better understanding of the depth of injustice in South Africa's past, but also a deeper appreciation for the achievement of the present and the promise of the future--in South Africa and in every other multiethnic region in the world.