ABSTRACT
This chapter explores different models and contexts for relational work, and considers how this work can help build wider 'structures of reconciliation' across the society. It emphasizes the need for an agonistic approach to reconciliation work. The chapter stresses the need to draw diverse groups of citizens into processes that confront the very terms of their belonging. And it underscores the crucial interrelationships between constitutional, institutional and relational efforts at reconciliation, highlighting the fact that this work requires patience and persistence across all socio-political domains. The relational dialogue processes undoubtedly play a crucial role in reconciliation efforts in and of themselves. Reconciliation efforts require that, as citizens struggle to know and understand one another, they must question what they thought they already knew. In 1989 the National Reconciliation Commission (CNR) sponsored a National Dialogue to consider ending the violent conflict.
