Reparations Working Group
We are organizing a monthly in-person reparations working group at the University of Amsterdam. The group is open to reparations and restorative justice scholars from across the social sciences and humanities. In it, we either discuss our own writing, or recent texts focusing on the economics, politics and ethics of reparations. Please feel free to come along, even if you have not read the texts but just want to say hi and introduce yourself.
Upcoming meeting
May, 2025
We will focus on:
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
Date : 1 May 2025
Time : 16.00-17.00 CET
Place: University of Amsterdam, Roeterseiland Campus B/C, 5th Floor
Room: TBD
Previous meetings
February, 2025:
We have discussed two articles from a reparations focused special issue:
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.
January, 2025:
We discussed the edited volume by Barbara Rose Johnston and Susan Slyomovics titled “Waging war, making peace: Reparations and human rights”. We focused on
Chapter 1: Waging War, Making Peace: The Anthropology of Reparations
Chapter 5: Reparations in Morocco: The Symbolic Dirham
You can find both chapters here (using your UvA login): Rose Johnston and Slyomovics - Waging war making peace.pdf
December, 2024:
We discussed John Torpey’s book “Making whole what has been smashed”, focusing on:
Chapter 1: The Surfacing of Subterranean History
Chapter 2: An Anatomy of Reparations Politics
You can find both chapters here (using your UvA login): Torpey - Making Whole
November, 2024:
We discussed Michael Banner’s book "Britain’s Slavery Debt: Reparations Now!”, available through the library, focusing on:
Chapter 4: Eleven (Mostly Not Very Good) Objections to Reparations
Chapter 5: From Principle to Practice: Who Should Pay What to Whom?
