How do the African traditions in the field of forgiveness and reconciliation relate to the reality in its prisons? And what of privatised prisons, where do they fit in?

In this Don’t Shut Up Jacana Conversation, Ruth Hopkins (UK/South Africa), Baz Dreisinger (USA) and Morris Kaberia (Kenya) discussed incarceration in Africa. Caroline Wanjiku Kihato (Kenya/USA) moderated the debate.

Within various African law traditions, concepts of forgiveness and reconciliation are reasonably common. Various reconciliatory forms of justice can be found in indigenous laws throughout the continent. The Igbo in Nigeria and the Songhai Empire of West Africa, for example, were known to have indigenous social control and justice strategies that focus on forgiveness, communalism, healing and restitution instead of retribution. Ubuntu in South Africa is possibly the most well known and internationally acclaimed term.

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Categories Africa Non-fiction South Africa

Tags Baz Dreisinger Caroline Wanjiku Kihato Jacana Conversation Jacana Media Morris Kaberia Ruth Hopkins The Misery Merchants