Shaping Truth, Reshaping Justice explores the realities of the Nigerian truth commission, the Human Rights Violations Investigation Commission. In doing so, the book examines the events of the Nigerian truth telling forum, comparing some of its aspects to the South African and Latin American counterparts from which it derived a number of its elements. Using the most public of ethnic conflicts in Nigeria's history as a case study, Shaping Truth, Reshaping Justice scrutinizes the ways in which the HRVIC interacted with the Nigerian socio-political melee and the way in which the pertinent ethnic groups presented a narrative of their 'enduring conflict.' Nwogu argues that this interaction does not indicate the participation of ethnicity in politics; rather, it is the politicization of ethnicity by elite members of these ethnic groups who utilize the official and moral forum that truth commissions provide to revitalize ethnic identities for the purpose of elite political aspirations. Ethno-political groups appropriated the commission as a formal space for the (mis)remembering of histories and the re-arrangement of politicized memory so as to mobilize constituencies, claim and reclaim political territories and gain access to social and economic resources at the national level. The government undermined its own ability to deliver the spectrum of justice that was particularly available through the HRVIC. This severely limits the potential for reconciliation. Looking at the HRVIC from this point of view shows the truth commission, designed to symbolize discontinuity, in reality reflects continuity with the past.

This book draws attention to emerging issues around the rights of minorities, marginalized groups, and persons in Africa. It explores the gaps between human rights provisions and conditions, showing that although international human rights principles have been embraced in the continent, various minority groups and marginalized persons are denied such rights through criminalization and persecution. African countries have a good record of signing and ratifying international and regional rights instruments but the political will and capacity for enforcing these with respect to minorities remain weak. International contributors to the book provide new perspectives on the rights of marginalized and minority groups in different parts of Africa and the extent to which they are deprived or denied entitlement to the universality and equality articulated in law. The authors show that human rights, while having come of age as a moral ideal, has not been fully entrenched in practice towards groups such as children, indigenous populations, the mentally ill, persons with disabilities, and persons with albinism. This volume is geared toward scholars, students, human rights groups, policy makers, social workers, international organizations, and policy makers in the fields of criminology, security studies, development studies, political science, sociology, children studies, social psychology, international relations, postcolonial studies, and African Studies.

Overcoming Toxic Emotions is a compelling theme to enrich the restorative justice literature on the complex tasks of relational repair in a transitional society. With its emphasis on the centrality of "rebuilding trust" and renewing the mode of being together, this book is an innovative addition to the literature on justice in transitional societies. It offers an original assessment of the Nigerian experience of restorative justice in peacebuilding. This genuinely theological work opens new perspectives for a more adequate understanding of the Christian contribution to peacebuilding and the secular debate on restorative justice. Yet, the author expresses himself as an African theologian, paying attention to the specific context of the problems about transitional justice and integrating spontaneously the wisdom of his dual cultures--Yoruba and Christianity. With its attentiveness to victim perspectives, the book engages the traditional notion of divine omnipotence and vulnerability. The book rejects the notion of the fetish omnipotent God. It opts instead for an image of God as vulnerable, yet powerful in love, compelling, inspiring, and rallying us.

This volume is the first, comprehensive and balanced historical account of the momentous Nigeria-Biafra war. It offers a multi-perspectival treatment of the conflict that explores issues such as local experiences of victims, the massive relief campaigns by humanitarian NGOs and international organizations like the Red Cross, the actions of foreign powers with interests in the conflict, and the significance of the international public sphere, in which the propaganda and public relations war about the question of genocide was waged.

In October 1967, early in the Nigerian Civil War, government troops entered Asaba in pursuit of the retreating Biafran army, slaughtering thousands of civilians and leaving the town in ruins. News of the atrocity was suppressed by the Nigerian government, with the complicity of Britain, and its significance in the subsequent progress of that conflict was misunderstood. Drawing on archival sources on both sides of the Atlantic and interviews with survivors of the killing, pillaging and rape, as well as with high-ranking Nigerian military and political leaders, S. Elizabeth Bird and Fraser M. Ottanelli offer an interdisciplinary reconstruction of the history of the Asaba Massacre, redefining it as a pivotal point in the history of the war. Through this, they also explore the long afterlife of trauma, the reconstruction of memory and how it intersects with justice, and the task of reconciliation in a nation where a legacy of ethnic suspicion continues to reverberate.

Now in its seventeenth edition, Social Science: An Introduction to the Study of Society approaches its study from a common-sense perspective, rather than a formalistic perspective more common in social science. Readers will see how seemingly diverse disciplines intermingle and connect to one another – anthropology and economics, for example. The goal of the book is to teach students critical thinking and problem-solving skills that will allow them to approach social issues in an objective and informed way. New to this edition are significant updates on: The election of Donald Trump and the emergence of related populist movements Trade policy and health care Issues involving migration and immigration Emerging developments in artificial intelligence Comparisons between cultural and biological evolution Examples, data, recommended readings, and internet questions

Now in its eigthteenth edition, Social Science: An Introduction to the Study of Society approaches its study from a common sense perspective, rather than a formalistic perspective more common in social science texts. Readers will see how seemingly diverse disciplines intermingle and connect to one another—anthropology and economics, for example. The goal of the book is to teach students critical thinking and problem-solving skills that will allow them to approach social issues in an objective and informed way. New to this edition are significant updates on: Debates about the limits of democracy, and the developing Chinese political alternative. Political, economic, and social implications of the Covid pandemic. Assessment of the Donald Trump presidency. Political, economic, and social implications of the movement from the Trump presidency to the Biden presidency. Implications of the multitrillion-dollar budget deficits the US government has been running. The emergence of populist movements throughout the world. The Chinese political and economic challenge to the United States. Recent developments in evolution theory. Examples, data, recommended readings, and Internet questions. Critical thinking questions.