A1 Journal article (refereed)
Why being there mattered : staged transparency at the International Criminal Court (2021)
D'hondt, S. (2021). Why being there mattered : staged transparency at the International Criminal Court. Journal of Pragmatics, 183, 168-178. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2021.07.014
JYU authors or editors
Publication details
All authors or editors: D'hondt, Sigurd
Journal or series: Journal of Pragmatics
ISSN: 0378-2166
eISSN: 1879-1387
Publication year: 2021
Volume: 183
Pages range: 168-178
Publisher: Elsevier
Publication country: Netherlands
Publication language: English
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2021.07.014
Publication open access: Openly available
Publication channel open access: Partially open access channel
Publication is parallel published (JYX): https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/77461
Abstract
The International Criminal Court (ICC) represents a criminal justice setting exceptionally welcoming to discourse scholars. The court website provides ample information about ongoing cases, hearings are livestreamed, and transcripts, video footage, and other relevant documents are available online. Against this background of comprehensive transparency, this paper explores the additional value of physically attending ICC trial hearings. An auto-ethnography of how the ICC court landscape structures the visitor's path to the courtroom gallery, it is claimed, brings out the staged nature of the Court's projection of transparency. The ensuing discussion explicates the implications of these staging practices for the hearing transcripts published on the ICC website. It is argued that these transcripts contribute to this projection of transparency by obfuscating the processes through which the Court constitutes its audiences, both the ‘physical’ gallery audience as well as its ‘virtual’ counterpart browsing through the materials on the ICC website. In this sense, the paper enhances our understanding of ICC hearing transcripts as ethnographic objects, because it shows that their sociocultural entanglements also extend to the ways in which they are disseminated and the role they play in staging the ICC as a transparent institution.
Keywords: institutions (social mechanisms); judiciary; international courts of justice; transparency; discourse research; pragmatics; ethnography
Free keywords: court transcripts; courtroom architecture; courtroom gallery; international criminal court; surveillant landscape; transparency
Contributing organizations
Related projects
- Negotiating International Criminal Law: A courtroom ethnography of trial performance at the International Criminal Court
- D'hondt, Sigurd
- Research Council of Finland
Ministry reporting: Yes
Reporting Year: 2021
JUFO rating: 3