The Cultural Dimensions of Transitional Justice: Community Perceptions and Legal Meaning
Keywords:
Transitional justice, cultural meaning, community perceptions, legal consciousness, reconciliation, restorative justiceAbstract
This study aimed to explore how community members and legal stakeholders in Tehran understand transitional justice, cultural memory, accountability, reconciliation, and the social meaning of law in relation to collective harm and institutional repair. This qualitative study was conducted using semi-structured interviews with 24 participants selected through purposive and snowball sampling in Tehran. Participants included community members, lawyers, civil society actors, and university-based legal and social science experts with knowledge or experience related to justice, rights, social conflict, institutional trust, or community mediation. Data collection continued until theoretical saturation was reached; saturation occurred after the twenty-first interview, followed by three additional interviews to confirm the stability of the emerging categories. Interviews lasted between 45 and 75 minutes and were audio-recorded with informed consent. The data were transcribed verbatim and analyzed through inductive thematic analysis. NVivo software was used to organize transcripts, code meaning units, compare categories, and retrieve representative excerpts. Credibility was enhanced through member checking, peer review, reflexive memo-writing, and maintaining an audit trail. Analysis generated four main categories: culturally embedded meanings of justice, memory and silence in community reconciliation, legal mistrust and the demand for institutional recognition, and restorative repair beyond formal punishment. Participants did not define transitional justice only through courts, punishment, or legal procedure; rather, they interpreted justice through dignity, public acknowledgment, cultural respect, social healing, and restoration of damaged relationships. While some participants emphasized legal accountability, others argued that justice would remain incomplete without truth-telling, symbolic recognition, reparative measures, and culturally meaningful forms of community participation. The findings suggest that transitional justice gains legitimacy when formal legal mechanisms are culturally intelligible, participatory, and responsive to community memories of harm. In the Tehran context, legal meaning was shaped by the interaction between institutional expectations and culturally grounded ideas of honor, dignity, forgiveness, social trust, and collective memory.
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