Theory group
We are organizing a monthly reparations theory 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.
Theory Group
Readings: Historical Trauma
Gill, Scherto R. (2026) 2026. “Understanding Legacies of Historical Trauma.” In New Perspectives on Healing Collective Trauma. Routledge. Available here
A chapter in the same book of your choice (Felix will read Gill, Scherto R. (2026) 2026. “Politics of Dignity: Structural Justice for Collective Healing and Global Flourishing.” In New Perspectives on Healing Collective Trauma. Routledge.)
Join us in person or online
To join the March edition of the Repair Theory Group in person, meet us at 3pm CET in room C5.09M at the Anthropology Department of the UvA (Roeterseiland Campus, B/C building, 5th floor).
To attend the meeting online, join via MS Teams by clicking this link and entering the passcode ‘UG6Y7dn9‘ on the day of the event.
Theory Group
Readings: Articles from the Sussex Centre for Rights, Reparations, and Anti-Colonial Justice
Coleman, Lara Montesinos, Helena Müllenbach Martínez, and Louise Wise. 2025. “Reparation for Extractivist Genocide: Harm, Responsibility and Implications for a Just Transition.” The International Journal of Human Rights 0 (0): 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/13642987.2025.2519583.
Bhambra, Gurminder K., Elizabeth Edwards, Margot Finn, and Fiona Williams. n.d. “From the ‘Culture Wars’ to Reparative Histories.” Journal of the British Academy 12 (1and2). https://doi.org/10.5871/jba/012.a10.
Join us in person or online
To join the March edition of the Repair Theory Group in person, meet us at 3pm CET in room C5.09M at the Anthropology Department of UvA (Roeterseiland Campus, B/C building, 5th floor).
To attend the meeting online, join via MS Teams by clicking this link and entering the passcode ‘UK2Ba3GM‘ on the day of the event.
Theory Group
Readings: Violent Utopia - Chapter 5 - “Territory”
We are reading Jovan, Scott Lewis. 2022. “Territory.” In Violent Utopia. Duke. pp. 174-203. You can find it here (we left the introduction in here as well for those who have time to read that too).
Join us in person or online
To join the February edition of the Repair Theory Group in person, meet us at 3pm CET in room C5.09M at the Anthropology Department of the UvA (Roeterseiland Campus, B/C building, 5th floor).
To attend the meeting online, join via MS Teams by clicking this link and entering the passcode ‘wf6js7Ls‘ on the day of the event.
Theory Group
Readings: In the aftermath of terrorism
Hirsch, Susan F. 2006. “Introduction and Conclusion.” In In the Moment of Greatest Calamity: Terrorism, Grief, and a Victim’s Quest for Justice. Princeton University Press.
Join in person or online
To join the January edition of the Repair Theory Group in person, meet us at 4pm CET in room C5.09M at the Anthropology Department of the UvA (Roeterseiland Campus, B/C building, 5th floor).
To attend the meeting online, join via MS Teams by clicking this link and entering the passcode ‘k4kn94BT‘ on the day of the event.
Theory Group
Readings: The anthropology of responsibility
Laidlaw, James. 2014. “Taking Responsibility Seriously.” In The Subject of Virtue - An Anthropology of Ethics and Freedom. Cambridge University Press.
Hirsch, Susan F. 2006. “Chapter 5: Proving a “Jihad Job.” In In the Moment of Greatest Calamity: Terrorism, Grief, and a Victim’s Quest for Justice. Princeton University Press.
Join us
In person: You can join this meeting in person at the University of Amsterdam, Roeterseiland Campus B/C, 5th Floor, Meeting room C5.09M. Address: Nieuwe Achtergracht 166, Amsterdam, 1018 WV, Netherlands (map).
Online: To join online, please click this link and enter the passcode ‘iv3MB9Yi‘ on the day of the event.
Reading group
This read, we think about the macroeconomics of reparations, by reading
Hinrichson, Simon (2024). When Nations Default: A History of War Reparations and Sovereign Debt. Cambridge, University Press. 2024. Ch1 & parts of Ch2 - pp.1-26
Reading Group
Readings: Michael Jackson
For this week’s reading group we go all out on the anthropology of reconciliation and repair by reading some work by Michael Jackson:
Online attendance
To attend online, please click this link and enter the passcode ‘Db2Zf6xN‘ on the day of the event.
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:
Banner, Michael. 2024. Britain’s Slavery Debt: Reparations Now! Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press.
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
Darity Jr, William & Mullen, A. Kirsten. 2020. “A Program of Black Reparations.” In From Here to Equality: Reparations for Black Americans in the Twenty-First Century. The University of North Carolina Press.
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
Hinrichsen, Simon. 2024. Chapters 1 & 2. In When Nations Can’t Default: A History of War Reparations and Sovereign Debt. Cambridge University Press. pp. 1-27.
Hirsch, Susan F. 2006. In the Moment of Greatest Calamity: Terrorism, Grief, and a Victim’s Quest for Justice. Princeton University Press.
Introduction & Conclusion
Chapter 5: Proving a “Jihad Job”
Jackson, Michael. 2005. “Whose Human Rights?.” In Existential Anthropology: Events, Exigencies and Effects. Berghahn Book. pp.159-180
Jackson, Michael. 2013. “The Stories That Shadow Us.” In Essays in Existential Anthropology. University of Chicago Press. pp. 169-188.
Laidlaw, James. 2014. Taking Responsibility Seriously. In The Subject of Virtue - An Anthropology of Ethics and Freedom. Cambridge University Press.
Lewis, Jovan Scott. 2020. Repairing Blackness - Seizing Reparations through the Scam. In Scammer’s Yard: The Crime of Black Repair in Jamaica. University of Minnesota Press. pp. 139–76.
Lewis, Jovan Scott. 2022. Violent Utopia: Dispossession and Black Restoration in Tulsa. Duke University Press.
Introduction & Conclusion
Chapter 4: Repair
Chapter 5: Territory
Moffett, Luke, & Kevin Hearty. 2023. Part 1 of More than a Number: Reparations for Those Bereaved during the Troubles. Reparations, Responsibility & Victimhood in Transitional Societies. pp. 7-39.
Moffett, Luke. 2024. Reparations as Balance. Journal of Social Philosophy 55 (4): 624–42. https://doi.org/10.1111/josp.12523.
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.
Táíwò, Olúfẹ́mi O. 2022. What’s Next: Why Reparations Require Climate Justice. In Reconsidering Reparations. pp. 149–208.
Torpey, John. 2006. Making Whole What Has Been Smashed: On Reparations Politics. New Brunswick: Rugers University Press.