Vanessa Barolsky
Deakin University, Alfred Deakin Research Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Research Associate
Vanessa Barolsky works across several disciplinary areas including sociology, anthropology and criminology to tackle questions related to social conflict and its transformation. Much of her work has been conducted in the South African context but has global applicability. This includes critical engagements with social cohesion, truth and reconciliation, as well as political and criminal violence and terrorism. She has also conducted research on issues related to the role of law in society and its contested relationship to social order and understandings of justice.
Prior to her employment at ADI, Vanessa Barolsky was a Research Specialist at the Democracy, Governance and Service Delivery Programme of the Human Sciences Research Council in South Africa where she led numerous interdisciplinary studies on key social challenges such as access to justice, violent crime and safety policy, including a major international study in South Africa and Brazil on the role of social cohesion in preventing violence in developing world contexts.
Before the HSRC, Dr Barolsky worked at the civilian oversight body, the South African Secretariat for Safety and Security and the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) where she was one of the authors of the Commission’s final report on human rights violations under apartheid. Her PHD on the TRC analysed the discursive construction of knowledge about political violence at the Commission.
Vanessa Barolsky is currently an investigator on several projects on countering violent extremism, particularly focusing on the role of communities and recently won a grant to conduct an evaluation of creative interventions to build social cohesion and resilience among young people in Australia. In 2016 Dr Barolsky was awarded the Bellagio Academic Residency fellowship by the Rockefeller Foundation and the Oppenheimer Memorial Trust Award for Sabbatical Study. She completed a six-month honorary fellowship at the Centre for Global Studies, RMIT University in 2017.
Prior to her employment at ADI, Vanessa Barolsky was a Research Specialist at the Democracy, Governance and Service Delivery Programme of the Human Sciences Research Council in South Africa where she led numerous interdisciplinary studies on key social challenges such as access to justice, violent crime and safety policy, including a major international study in South Africa and Brazil on the role of social cohesion in preventing violence in developing world contexts.
Before the HSRC, Dr Barolsky worked at the civilian oversight body, the South African Secretariat for Safety and Security and the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) where she was one of the authors of the Commission’s final report on human rights violations under apartheid. Her PHD on the TRC analysed the discursive construction of knowledge about political violence at the Commission.
Vanessa Barolsky is currently an investigator on several projects on countering violent extremism, particularly focusing on the role of communities and recently won a grant to conduct an evaluation of creative interventions to build social cohesion and resilience among young people in Australia. In 2016 Dr Barolsky was awarded the Bellagio Academic Residency fellowship by the Rockefeller Foundation and the Oppenheimer Memorial Trust Award for Sabbatical Study. She completed a six-month honorary fellowship at the Centre for Global Studies, RMIT University in 2017.
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for a Makarrata Commission to oversee truth-telling and treaty. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities have long
called for truth-telling about the colonial past. Numerous community projects have emerged to engage with these historical
truths. However, few of these initiatives have been documented. This article analyses a small sample of these projects,
drawing on case study research. It argues that these activities, grounded in Indigenous onto-epistemology, offer unique
opportunities to explore the decolonising potential of truth-telling. These truth practices defy the eliminatory logic of
settler colonialism, creating spaces for pedagogic encounter that trouble the settler-colonial order by enacting multiple
sovereignties on Country. Importantly, they provide insights for formal truth-telling, modelling resurgent, prefigurative
praxis that incorporates Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians in transformative processes that could help navigate
the challenges of transitional justice in the settler-colonial context.
The research on community truth-telling, based on a unique collaborative study between the Centre for Inclusive and Resilient Societies, Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation and Reconciliation Australia, found Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities have shown significant leadership in truth-telling, often with few resources or support. Importantly, they have invited non-Indigenous people to partner with them in truth-telling. The investigation contains numerous case studies of successful community truth-telling activities. These case studies provide easily understandable examples of what truth-telling looks like, what constitutes best practice and how to ensure safety and protection from re-traumatising.
for a Makarrata Commission to oversee truth-telling and treaty. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities have long
called for truth-telling about the colonial past. Numerous community projects have emerged to engage with these historical
truths. However, few of these initiatives have been documented. This article analyses a small sample of these projects,
drawing on case study research. It argues that these activities, grounded in Indigenous onto-epistemology, offer unique
opportunities to explore the decolonising potential of truth-telling. These truth practices defy the eliminatory logic of
settler colonialism, creating spaces for pedagogic encounter that trouble the settler-colonial order by enacting multiple
sovereignties on Country. Importantly, they provide insights for formal truth-telling, modelling resurgent, prefigurative
praxis that incorporates Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians in transformative processes that could help navigate
the challenges of transitional justice in the settler-colonial context.
The research on community truth-telling, based on a unique collaborative study between the Centre for Inclusive and Resilient Societies, Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation and Reconciliation Australia, found Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities have shown significant leadership in truth-telling, often with few resources or support. Importantly, they have invited non-Indigenous people to partner with them in truth-telling. The investigation contains numerous case studies of successful community truth-telling activities. These case studies provide easily understandable examples of what truth-telling looks like, what constitutes best practice and how to ensure safety and protection from re-traumatising.