Contact Tristan Borer
Education: B.A., University of Texas at San Antonio; M.A., University of Notre Dame; Ph.D., University of Notre Dame
"Borer has produced a meticulous case study of religious activism and political change, a riveting analysis of the churches' struggle for justice as the anti-apartheid struggle intensified in the 1980s. One of the strengths of this South African research is that it is written with a scholar's understanding of the pioneering work done on religion and social change in Latin America."
- Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., President Emeritus, University of Notre Dame.
"Truth telling is always important but never more so than when a country undergoes a transition. Getting to the truth challenges myths, half-truths, denials, and lies. When the silence is broken, it offers the opportunity for new beginnings. Telling
the Truths is a major step in this direction."
- Alex Boraine, Founding President and Chairperson of the Board, Intenational Center for Transitional Justice, Cape Town, South Africa
Professor of Government
Joined Connecticut College: 1995
Specializations:
- South African Politics
- Human Rights
- Transitional Justice
- Gender and Human Rights
- International Relations
Professor Borer's teaching and research interests converge around the topic of human rights in South Africa.
She teaches the following courses: Human Rights in World Politics; South African Politics; African Politics; The Politics of Refugees; Women and World Politics; and Introduction to International Relations.
Her first book, Challenging the State: Churches as Political Actors in South Africa, 1980-1994, examines the role that two religion organizations in South Africa played in the anti-apartheid movement there in the 1980s and early 1990s. Her edited book Telling the Truths: Truth Telling and Peacebuilding in Post-Conflict Societies, (University of Notre Dame Press, 2006), evaluates the contributions of truth-telling mechanisms, such as tribunals and truth commissions, to long-term sustainable peace in countries emerging from violent conflicts. She is also the author of numerous journal articles and book chapters on South African politics.
In 2005, Borer was awarded a research grant from the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) to undertake a project titled "The Truth Plus Ten: The South African State and Civil Society's responses to the Truth and Reconciliation Commmission."
Borer received an award for her work from the American Political Science Association. In 1994 she also served as an election observer to the first democratic election in South Africa with the United Nations Observer Mission to South Africa (UNOMSA). She has twice received a residential scholar fellowship from the Joan Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame, and is the co-director of the Research Initiative on the Resolution of Ethnic Conflict (RIREC), funded and housed at the Kroc Institute.
Professor Borer was invited to address the Bureau of Intelligence and Research of the U.S. Department of State and the National Intelligence Council at a conference on South Africa in January 2005 in Washington, D.C. Read the news release.
In 2004 she was given CC's top award for teaching excellence, the John King Faculty Teaching Award, during the College's 90th Convocation ceremony.
She delivered the 2005 Baccalaureate speech, "The Long End of the Stick", at the College's 87th Commencement.
View the government department Web site.