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“Transition and Trauma: On the Construction and Politics of Expertise in Transitional Justice” by Jessica Auchter, published in Global Studies Quarterly (April 2026), examines how ideas of expertise are constructed and mobilized within the field of Transitional Justice. The article investigates how representations of atrocity and crisis shape who is recognized as an authority on justice and how these forms of expertise influence the way justice is conceptualized and practiced. 

The study argues that dominant frameworks of transitional justice often frame mass violence as a crisis that can be resolved or “moved on from” through the application of appropriate legal, institutional, or psychological tools. In this context, certain actors, such as legal professionals, international practitioners, and academic specialists, are positioned as experts capable of guiding societies through transition. However, this construction of expertise can marginalize the knowledge and perspectives of survivors of violence, whose voices are frequently sidelined in both policy and scholarly discussions. 

Drawing in part on her own experiences conducting research in Rwanda, Auchter reflects on how academic authority is claimed and reproduced. The article concludes by questioning dominant assumptions about expertise and asking what forms of justice might emerge if alternative ways of knowing, including survivor knowledge and locally grounded perspectives, were taken more seriously in both scholarship and practice. 

For more information about the article, click here.