Truth and Reconciliation: An Exploration of Leadership and Accountability Within Divided Nations and Cyclic Ideologies - Paperback

by Thomas E. Malewitz (Author)

Framed within the lens of Robert Greenleaf's Servant Leadership model, Truth and Reconciliation examines and explores trends through global historical accounts and examples of diplomatic leadership surrounding the Truth and Reconciliation Commissions of South Africa and Canada, as a guide to approach America's divided identity and racial tensions. Through the wisdom and diplomacy illustrated during the transition of a South African nation defined by legal racial segregation of apartheid to democracy, as well as a Canadian national identity deeply scarred through the cultural genocide of generations of First Nations children and families through the abusive Residential School system and the Sixties Scoop, it is the hope that this manuscript will offer insights as well as a theological lens for reflection to approach a nonviolent narrative-based option of seeking truth and the first steps toward reconciliation, beyond cyclic ideologies. By highlighting the historical parallels between South Africa, Canada, and America, this manuscript serves as a conversation starter, offering reflective stories and activities to help establish an initial dialogue in a nation whose consciousness remains deeply rooted in unresolved cultural conflict from Indigenous genocide as well as the residual deep cultural challenges and stereotypes of American slavery ideology and practices.

Author Biography

Thomas E. Malewitz is assistant professor and director of the EdD: Leadership Program at Spalding University. He has also served as a lecturer in religious education for St. Meinrad Seminary & School of Theology. He is the author of Authenticity, Passion, and Advocacy: Approaching Adolescent Spirituality from the Life and Wisdom of Thomas Merton (2020). Malewitz lives in Louisville, Kentucky, with his wife.