Country of My Skull

Country of My Skull is a 1998 nonfiction book by Antjie Krog primarily about the findings of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). The book is, in reality, an intersectional, interdisciplinary analysis of the Commission's potential and realized effects on post-Apartheid South Africa. The book can be understood as having three main elements: First, it is a collection of accounts from the TRC hearings - direct testimony of the terrible human rights violations on all sides of the struggle against Apartheid. Second, it is an exploration and analysis of political and moral philosophy relevant to, inspired by, and grounded in the TRC (see President Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu). Third, it is biographical, in terms of the author being extremely honest, open, and self-analytical about her own position and experience relative to the TRC - racially as a white Afrikaner, professionally as a radio journalist, emotionally as someone grappling with her nation's bloody past, and personally as her experiences covering the TRC affect her intimate life. Country of My Skull is written as an amalgamation of journalism, prose, personal narrative, and poetry - all of which Krog has been celebrated for - with the goal of capturing the overwhelming moral, emotional, and historical complexity of the Truth and Reconciliation process in South Africa. In 2004, the book was adapted into the film In My Country by director John Boorman starring Samuel L. Jackson and Juliette Binoche.