Grant Proposal

My summer research will be focused on the concept of forgiveness in the context of post-apartheid South Africa, when amnesty was offered in exchange for allocution to the Truth and Reconciliation Commissions (TRC). I will conduct my study through interviews arranged by and development of programs for the Lyndi Fourie Foundation in Cape Town.

On December 30, 1993, Ginn Fourie’s 23-year-old daughter Lyndi was killed when the military wing of the Pan-African Congress attacked a Cape Town restaurant. In 2002, Fourie met Letlapa Mphahlele, the commander who ordered the massacre. Although angry, she believed her Christian faith called her to forgive her daughter’s murderer. As Fourie spent time with Mphahlele in his community, she was moved both by the poverty and suffering she saw there and by the welcoming spirit and openness of the people. In turn, Mphahlele sought an active way to express his remorse. Together they established the Lyndi Fourie Foundation (http://lyndifouriefoundation.org.za) to address the challenges not only of poverty but also those whose amnesty did not fully resolve their personal feelings of guilt and shame.

Fourie explained to me that the foundation is an ongoing, concrete enactment of her forgiveness and Mphahlele’s remorse. Apartheid led to the violence that killed her daughter, and by forgiving Mphahlele and helping those like him who continue to suffer, she is able to create meaning from her daughter’s murder. Thus Fourie lives out her Christian commitment.

My dissertation seeks to understand forgiveness in situations where, for many—victims of torture, of brutal attack, of genocide—such an act would seem impossible, and it explores the possibility that non-forgiveness may be a productive alternative. To this end, I examine three sites of forgiveness: the crucifixion scene in the Gospel of Luke, in which Jesus prays “Father, forgive them” rather than forgiving them directly; victim-offender mediation in the American criminal justice system, where language of forgiveness is often used to pressure victims to participate; and post-apartheid South Africa, where the terms amnesty, reconciliation, and forgiveness are sometimes conflated.

Fourie writes, “Forgiveness is a process which involves the principled decision to give up one’s justifiable right to revenge.” In discussions with Fourie and the members of the foundation, I will work to answer some key questions in my dissertation research: Does forgiveness require a relationship between the victim and the offender? Must forgiveness have a concrete expression? Is reconciliation a necessary part of forgiveness? Because Mphahlele received amnesty for the crimes he committed during apartheid, I will also be able to explore through his case study the relationship between amnesty and forgiveness. Finally, I will inquire into who has the authority to forgive.

I plan to stay six to eight weeks in Cape Town, where Ginn Fourie has made housing available to me. Along with conversations with Fourie and Mphahlele, I will also volunteer with the Lyndi Fourie Foundation in performing administrative tasks and assisting with the development of a new program for ex-combatants who suffer psychological problems and chemical dependency issues as a result of apartheid violence.