Exploring ‘quiet transitional justice’ as victim-led transitional justice: memoirs, narrative victimology and ‘reimagining’ transitional justice

Merging theoretical and methodological insights from the growing area of narrative victimology with those found within the more established field of transitional justice, in this paper we examine the role/experience of victims of armed conflict who have pursued their own transitional justice efforts – outside of state mechanisms. We make two key arguments. First, that victim memoirs are a valuable space to explore the experiences and perspectives of victims on ‘big’ transitional justice concepts like acknowledgment, truth, justice, and repair. Second, that within these memoirs we can see victims engage in ‘quiet transitional justice’ (QTJ) efforts – that is, work that seeks to address the legacy of past violence yet happens ‘behind the scenes,’ away from mainstream political or media attention (Dempster 2020). Focusing on the memoirs of victims of the Northern Ireland conflict who have engaged in unofficial transitional justice initiatives with various non-state armed groups, we propose that QTJ can offer a victim-led and ‘from below’ approach in which victims are active agents. Notably, we argue that this agency is not limited to victims simply telling their stories, but involves fuller participation through articulating their individual needs and expectations and then liaising with non-state armed groups in terms of follow through and repair. In developing this theory of QTJ, we identify hurdles to such processes and factors that contribute to their workability.