Category Politics
20 Must-Read Books about Reconciliation in Canada
20 books about reconciliation in Canada and how to engage it critically and meaningfully.
Gift Theory and the Settler State
French Anthropologist Marcel Mauss put gift theory into circulation long ago in 1923, but his ideas continue to make important contributions to contemporary studies in Literature, Continental Philosophy, Anthropology and, as I argue, Reconciliation Theory. Of special importance in Mauss’s work was his identification of “hau,” a “spiritual mechanism … which obliges us to make […]
Gift Theory and the Settler State
French Anthropologist Marcel Mauss put gift theory into circulation long ago in 1923, but his ideas continue to make important contributions to contemporary studies in Literature, Continental Philosophy, Anthropology and, as I argue, Reconciliation Theory. Of special importance in Mauss’s work was his identification of “hau,” a “spiritual mechanism … which obliges us to make […]
RECONCILIAITON ≠ TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE (Part II)
The relation of transitional justice to contemporary reconciliation studies is an issue that requires much more attention. Some of the most recent examples of reconciliation (Australia and Canada) have not taken place inside of a transitional justice paradigm, but are the consequence of previously democratic states coming to terms with past crimes. Inasmuch as reconciliation […]
RECONCILIAITON ≠ TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE (Part II)
The relation of transitional justice to contemporary reconciliation studies is an issue that requires much more attention. Some of the most recent examples of reconciliation (Australia and Canada) have not taken place inside of a transitional justice paradigm, but are the consequence of previously democratic states coming to terms with past crimes. Inasmuch as reconciliation […]
Reconciliaiton ≠ Transitional Justice
In tracing the legacy of reconciliation across Nuremberg, Yugoslavia, South Africa, Australia and Canada, there is at least one major difference in the latter two examples that demands explicit attention. Specifically, Nuremberg principles have traditionally been used to enforce measures of transitional justice for states beset by violence–the primary examples being El Salvador, Argentina, Chile […]
Reconciliation Does Not Equal Transitional Justice (and other truths)
In tracing the legacy of reconciliation across Nuremberg, Yugoslavia, South Africa, Australia and Canada, there is at least one major difference in the latter two examples that demands explicit attention. Specifically, Nuremberg principles have traditionally been used to enforce measures of transitional justice for states beset by violence–the primary examples being El Salvador, Argentina, Chile […]
The Unseemly Underbelly of Reconciliation
The following is excerpted from my current book project: Settler Reconciliation: Locating Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission in “the new international morality”. Feedback and suggestions are welcome in the comments section below. Thanks for reading. This book is an examination and critique of reconciliation as it populates the post-Cold War landscape as an idealist politic. According to […]
The Unseemly Underbelly of Reconciliation
For more reading on reconciliation and residential schools see 20 Books that Will Change How You Think About Canada. According to Roy L. Brooks, “we have clearly entered what can be called the ‘Age of Apology’” (3). Now more than ever, governments are embracing models of justice that forgo retribution and work towards facilitating peaceful […]
sehtoskakew: “Aboriginal Principles of Witnessing” in the Canadian TRC
Witnessing and testimony are an essential component of every Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and the Canadian TRC is no exception. However, these key terms are ideologically loaded and have historically excluded Indigenous knowledge systems (for instance Delgamuukw v. British Columbia). While “Schedule ‘N’” (which contains the Canadian TRC mandate) gestures towards “Aboriginal principles of witnessing,” there […]
Novel Alliances 