Tag Archives: apology
The Theatre of Regret: Establishing the Politics of Reconciliation after World War II
An immense wave of anti-colonial and anti-imperial activity, thought, and revision has overtaken the massive edifice of Western empire, challenging it, to use Gramsci’s vivid metaphor, in a mutual siege. For the first time Westerners have been required to confront themselves not simply as the Raj but as representatives of a culture and even a […]
“Sorry, Sorry, Sorry, Sorry”: Canadian Political Apologies and the Desire to Repeat
This presentation is a brief theorization of post-Cold War political apologies as Lacanian drive. According to Roy L. Brooks, “we have clearly entered what can be called the ‘Age of Apology’” (3). Since the end of the Cold War, in the shift from realpolitik to what Elzar Barkan calls “the new age of international morality”, […]
The Deconstructive Apology: The Ethics of Apology in the Postmodern Era
At this present moment it must be recognized that “apology” has been reformulated in Canada’s political discourse as a means to control narrative and protect the interests of the status quo. In this post, I would like to offer a brief critique of what might be called the “deconstructive” or “postmodern” approach to apology, which […]
Apology’s Worth It: How Canada Profits from Apology
We live in an “Age of Apology“. In a way that was unimaginable during the Cold War, “sorry” is now a primary element of intra-state politics. Some label the post-Cold War shift out of realpolitik as an indication of “the new international morality,” but apology is also a means for Nation States to recuperate and monetize “sorry”. The […]
“The Climax of Reconciliation”: Transgression, Apology, Forgiveness and the Body in Conflict Resolution
Originally published in The Journal of Bioethical Enquiry 1.1 (2010). An Interdisciplinary forum for ethical and legal debate. Click here for the full article.
