The Historical Relevance and Socio-political Function of the Brazilian Truth Commission (2012-2014) and Reception of the Final Report

• Applicant: Dr. Nina Schneider
• Subject Area: Modern and Contemporary History ; African, American and Oceania Studies
• Term: from 2016 to 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 319180676

This research project focuses on the Final Report of the Brazilian National Truth Commission (hereafter NTC) published in December 2014. Brazil has long silenced its military past contrary to the global trend to human rights accountability. The NTC's Final Report will be the first comprehensive official report about the systematic human rights violations committed by State agents during the military dictatorship in Brazil (1964-1985) with full access to classified documents. During its two year mandate (2012-2014), the NTC has, however, been criticized from various interest groups, and its work was severely compromised by internal conflicts among the commissioners. The project's main objective is to evaluate the historical relevance and socio-political function of the NTC. To that end, the project pursues two specific intermediate goals: to (1) provide an in depth analysis of the Final Report, and (2) investigate and explain its varying short and medium term reception among key interest groups. These two steps are necessary to answer what still remains unknown: What were the NTC's prime purpose, addressees, and its overall sociopolitical function? Ultimately, was the NTC of both perceived and de facto historical relevance for the Brazilian society, and if so, for which areas specifically (e.g. victim-state relations, international reputation, changes within the police and justice system, etc.)? To answer these questions the project will employ the following methods: (1) in depth media analysis of the ceremony of presentation of the Report and continuous media analysis and websites monitoring of key interest groups including the government, the Truth Commission's official webpage, and human rights groups, (2) in depth text analysis of the NTC's Final Report (content, narrative, tone, prime addressee, jargon), (3) conduct interviews with already identified key protagonists including members of the National Truth Commission, the local truth committees, and survivors. The expected outcome of the project is an empirically based, comprehensive study of the Final Report, its reception, and an overall evaluation of the NTC's socio-political relevance and function in Brazil's underresearched, protracted reckoning history with the dictatorship. The project's theoretical contribution is to test alternative evaluation criteria for truth commissions including the commission's public acceptance and the Final Report's contribution to knowledge.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants