Reading group
We are organizing a monthly reparations reading group at the University of Amsterdam, open to anyone who is interested in learning more about reparations. The group is open to reparations and restorative justice scholars from across the social sciences and humanities. In it, we discuss recent texts focusing on the economics, politics and ethics of reparations. You can join the group in person (University of Amsterdam, Roeterseiland Campus B/C, 5th Floor, Room C5.09M) or online. Please feel free to come along or say hi online, even if you have not read the texts but just want to introduce yourself.
Reading Group
Readings:
“Part 1” (pp. 7 - 39) of Moffett, Luke, and Kevin Hearty. 2023. More than a Number: Reparations for Those Bereaved during the Troubles. Reparations, Responsibility & Victimhood in Transitional Societies. Online at https://pureadmin.qub.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/518371133/QUB_Bereaved_Report_SP_WEB.pdf
Moffett, Luke. 2024. “Reparations as Balance.” Journal of Social Philosophy 55 (4): 624–42. https://doi.org/10.1111/josp.12523.
Working group July 16, 2025
We will discuss the following texts:
Lewis, Jovan Scott. 2020. “Repairing Blackness - Seizing Reparations through the Scam.” In Scammer’s Yard: The Crime of Black Repair in Jamaica, 139–76. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press. Lewis - Scammer’s Yard.pdf
Táíwò, Olúfẹ́mi O. 2022. “What’s Next: Why Reparations Require Climate Justice.” In Reconsidering Reparations, 149–208. New York: Oxford University Press.) What’s Next Why Reparations for Climate Justice.pdf
Working group June 11, 2025
We will discuss two texts from the recent edited volume on Redefining Reparations:
Kinstler, Linda. 2025. “The Factory That Wiped Out the Past: Chorzów and the Reparative Imagination.” In Redefining Reparations. Routledge. PDF
Fischbach, Michael R. 2025. “Considering Compensation for Palestinian Refugees: Arab and International Efforts in the 1950s.” In Redefining Reparations. Routledge. PDF
Working group May 1, 2025
Please note that this meeting has been moved online. To join us, please click this link and enter the passcode ‘Yh6hZ3RB‘ at 4pm CET on the day of the event.
We will discuss:
Gorostiza, Santiago & Armiero, Marco. 2021. “Repairing as struggle for narrative justice”. pp. 87–109. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003184782-7 and
Topçu, Sezin. 2021. “Repairing the ir-repairable”. pp. 49–66. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003184782-4
Working group Feb 3, 2025
Sylla, Ndongo Samba, Andrew M. Fischer, Annina Kaltenbrunner, and Sreerekha Sathi. 2024. “Global Reparations within Capitalism: Aspirations and Tensions in Contemporary Movements for Reparatory Justice.” Development and Change 55 (4): 560–600. https://doi.org/10.1111/dech.12855.
Sundar, Nandini. 2024. “When Victors Claim Victimhood: Majoritarian Resentment and the Inversion of Reparations Claims.” Development and Change 55 (4): 531–930. https://doi.org/10.1111/dech.12822.
In previous meetings, we discussed:
Lewis, Jovan Scott. 2020. Repairing Blackness - Seizing Reparations through the Scam. In Scammer’s Yard: The Crime of Black Repair in Jamaica, 139–76.
Táíwò, Olúfẹ́mi O. 2022. What’s Next: Why Reparations Require Climate Justice. In Reconsidering Reparations. pp, 149–208.
De Vita, Lorena & Goschler, Constantin. 2025. Redefining reparations. In Routledge eBooks. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003377146
Kinstler, Linda: The Factory That Wiped Out the Past: Chorzów and the Reparative Imagination.
Fischbach, Michael R.: Considering Compensation for Palestinian Refugees: Arab and International Efforts in the 1950s
Centemeri, Laura, Topçu, Sezin & Burgess, J. Peter (Eds.). 2021. Rethinking Post-Disaster recovery. In Routledge eBooks. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003184782
Gorostiza, Santiago & Armiero, Marco: Repairing as struggle for narrative justice
Topçu, Sezin: Repairing the ir-repairable
Banner, Michael. 2024. Britain’s Slavery Debt: Reparations Now! Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press.
Rose Johnston, Barbara & Susan Slyomovics. 2009. “Waging war, making peace: Reparations and human rights”.
Chapter 1: Waging War, Making Peace: The Anthropology of Reparations
Chapter 5: Reparations in Morocco: The Symbolic Dirham
Sylla, Ndongo Samba, Andrew M. Fischer, Annina Kaltenbrunner, and Sreerekha Sathi. 2024. “Global Reparations within Capitalism: Aspirations and Tensions in Contemporary Movements for Reparatory Justice.” Development and Change 55 (4): 560–600. https://doi.org/10.1111/dech.12855.
Sundar, Nandini. 2024. “When Victors Claim Victimhood: Majoritarian Resentment and the Inversion of Reparations Claims.” Development and Change 55 (4): 531–930. https://doi.org/10.1111/dech.12822.
Torpey, John. 2006. Making Whole What Has Been Smashed: On Reparations Politics. New Brunswick: Rugers University Press.