Replication Data for: Pandemic Fiction Meets Political Science: A Simulation for Teaching Restorative Justice

We team teach an interdisciplinary political science and literature course titled “Violence and Reconciliation,” with case studies on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in South Africa and on debates about whether to develop a TRC in Northern Ireland. The course culminates in a two-week simulation where students role-play the experiences, strategies, and needs of victims, perpetrators, legal teams, government officials, and NGOs in the aftermath of a horrific event that has torn a society apart. We assessed the simulation through pre- and post-writing exercises as well as observations of the insights revealed by students during negotiations. We believe the simulation is an effective tool in helping students move from a scholarly engagement with the tools and processes of restorative justice to actually employing them in response to hatred and violence. In this paper we share the simulation for use or adaptation in other courses.