Making Whole What Has Been Smashed : On Reparations Politics

John Torpey

ISBN 10: 0674019431 / ISBN 13: 9780674019430

Published by Harvard University Press Jan 2006, 2006

About this Item

Neuware - This book explores the recent spread of political efforts to rectify past injustices. Although it recognizes that reparations campaigns may lead to improved well-being of victims and to reconciliation among former antagonists, it examines the extent to which concern with the past may depart from the future orientation of progressive politics.

Seller Inventory # 9780674019430

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Making Whole What Has Been Smashed : On Reparations Politics
• Publisher: Harvard University Press Jan 2006
• Publication Date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0674019431
• ISBN 13: 9780674019430
• Binding: Buch
• Condition: Neu
• Dimensions: 240W x 167H x 22D millimeters 240 millimeters width by 167 millimeters height by 22 millimeters depth
• Weight: 450 grams

About this title

Synopsis

This book explores the spread in recent years of political efforts to rectify injustices handed down from the past. Although it recognizes that campaigns for reparations may lead to an improvement in the well-being of victims of mistreatment by states and to reconciliation among former antagonists, it examines the extent to which the concern with the past may represent a departure from the traditionally future-oriented stance of progressive politics. Viewing the search for "coming to terms with the past" as a form of politics, it argues that there are major differences between reparations for the living victims of past wrongdoing and reparations for the descendants of such victims. More fundamentally, it argues that claims for reparations comprise a relatively novel kind of politics that involves a quest for symbolic recognition and material compensation for those seeking them--through the idiom of the past rather than the present. The prominent role of lawyers in such politics speaks to a larger trend toward the "juridification of politics" that often has problematic consequences for these campaigns. Concerns to right the wrongs of the past, the book concludes, may distract from the fight to overcome contemporary injustices.

About the Author

John Torpey is Professor of Sociology at the Graduate Center, City University of New York.