|
|
|
|
Identity Politics Redux: Apologies for Historical Injustice and Deliberation about Race |
|
| Abstract | Word Stems | Keywords | Association | Citation | Get this Document | Similar Titles |
|
STOP! You can now view the document associated with this citation by clicking on the "View Document as HTML" link below. |
|
Click here to view the document
|
Abstract:
|
This paper examines the role played by demands for apology and restitution for past injustices visited upon minorities, in the deliberative process, and the political and theoretical consequences of these demands. Deliberative democratic theory arose in the 1990s in large part as a response to frustration with identity politics – which, critics contended, trapped people within their increasingly splintered groups, and made any politics of solidarity based around commitment to a civic project impossible. Deliberative democratic theory aimed to sidestep divisive questions of identity by emphasizing shared commitment to a code of rational discourse.
Like greeting and testimony, however, apology forces us to reconsider the questions of recognition and status. In any speaking situation, participants must first recognize each other as interlocutors before conversation may proceed. Apology is the acknowledgment of a wrong and the expression of regret which aims to repair the relationship between the parties. It acknowledges the interlocutor’s suffering, and the self-understanding of the interlocutor as one who has, crucially, experienced that suffering. Power relations are transformed, so that parties are now acknowledged as equals in the speech situation about to proceed.
The paper argues that attempts to restore and make restitution for past injustices which do not admit apology – deliberation without acknowledgment – are doomed to failure. It examines in detail two cases: the demands for apology for slavery made by African Americans and the impact of these for the “conversations on race” which the Clinton Administration sponsored in the 1990s, and the demands for apologies to Australia’s indigenous peoples for the practice of forced child removal, and their impact on national reconciliation. The demands for apology which periodically resurfaced in these conversations expressed the claims of status and recognition on the part of minorities which could not be addressed in the deliberative terms of these conversations. I conclude that rational deliberation must in these cases be preceded by communicative exchange which acknowledges the status of parties. |
Most Common Document Word Stems:
apolog (103), delib (68), polit (67), deliber (57), govern (50), democraci (48), process (48), public (48), state (46), ident (43), reconcili (41), particip (36), case (36), speech (36), group (35), democrat (35), australian (34), race (32), communiti (32), american (31), recognit (31), |
|
|
 | Convention | | Convention is an application service for managing large or small academic conferences, annual meetings, and other types of events! |  | Submission - Custom fields, multiple submission types, tracks, audio visual, multiple upload formats, automatic conversion to pdf. |  | Review - Peer Review, Bulk reviewer assignment, bulk emails, ranking, z-score statistics, and multiple worksheets! |  | Reports - Many standard and custom reports generated while you wait. Print programs with participant indexes, event grids, and more! |  | Scheduling - Flexible and convenient grid scheduling within rooms and buildings. Conflict checking and advanced filtering. |  | Communication - Bulk email tools to help your administrators send reminders and responses. Use form letters, a message center, and much more! |  | Management - Search tools, duplicate people management, editing tools, submission transfers, many tools to manage a variety of conference management headaches! | | Click here for more information. |
|
|
Association:
Name: American Political Science Association URL: http://www.apsanet.org
|
Citation:
|
MLA Citation:
| Smits, Katherine. "Identity Politics Redux: Apologies for Historical Injustice and Deliberation about Race" Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Philadelphia Marriott Hotel, Philadelphia, PA, Aug 27, 2003 <Not Available>. 2009-05-26 <http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p63717_index.html> |
APA Citation:
| Smits, K. , 2003-08-27 "Identity Politics Redux: Apologies for Historical Injustice and Deliberation about Race" Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Philadelphia Marriott Hotel, Philadelphia, PA Online <.PDF>. 2009-05-26 from http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p63717_index.html |
Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript Review Method: Peer Reviewed Abstract: This paper examines the role played by demands for apology and restitution for past injustices visited upon minorities, in the deliberative process, and the political and theoretical consequences of these demands. Deliberative democratic theory arose in the 1990s in large part as a response to frustration with identity politics – which, critics contended, trapped people within their increasingly splintered groups, and made any politics of solidarity based around commitment to a civic project impossible. Deliberative democratic theory aimed to sidestep divisive questions of identity by emphasizing shared commitment to a code of rational discourse.
Like greeting and testimony, however, apology forces us to reconsider the questions of recognition and status. In any speaking situation, participants must first recognize each other as interlocutors before conversation may proceed. Apology is the acknowledgment of a wrong and the expression of regret which aims to repair the relationship between the parties. It acknowledges the interlocutor’s suffering, and the self-understanding of the interlocutor as one who has, crucially, experienced that suffering. Power relations are transformed, so that parties are now acknowledged as equals in the speech situation about to proceed.
The paper argues that attempts to restore and make restitution for past injustices which do not admit apology – deliberation without acknowledgment – are doomed to failure. It examines in detail two cases: the demands for apology for slavery made by African Americans and the impact of these for the “conversations on race” which the Clinton Administration sponsored in the 1990s, and the demands for apologies to Australia’s indigenous peoples for the practice of forced child removal, and their impact on national reconciliation. The demands for apology which periodically resurfaced in these conversations expressed the claims of status and recognition on the part of minorities which could not be addressed in the deliberative terms of these conversations. I conclude that rational deliberation must in these cases be preceded by communicative exchange which acknowledges the status of parties. |
Get this Document:
Find this citation or document at one or all of these locations below. The links below may have the citation or the entire document for free or you may purchase access to the document. Clicking on these links will change the site you're on and empty your shopping cart.
| Document Type: |
.PDF |
| Page count: |
41 |
| Word count: |
9781 |
| Text sample: |
| Identity Politics Redux: Apologies for Historical Injustice and Deliberation about Race Deliberative democracy has over the past ten years come largely to replace the older interest pluralist or aggregative paradigm of democratic theory in both academic and public policy discourse. This classical liberal model developed in the 1950s by Robert Dahl and other American pluralists may be understood in both juridical and proprietary terms; it posited individuals as both the bearers of negative rights against the state and the |
| this case further requires as I have argued the intervention of the state as a participant in discourse. Again while official recognition and status will not always be an issue in public deliberation in cases where participants have not been recognized as speaking subjects in the past the state functions not only as the object of influence but also as the actor crucially capable of conferring recognition upon other speakers in terms that are acceptable to them. The politics |
Similar Titles:
A Quantitative Comparison of Major Democratic National Convention Speeches by High-Profile African American Political Leaders: How Is Race Treated?
A Historical Account of Efficiency in American Public Administration: How A Non-Economic Conceptualization Can Advance the Democratic-Governance Process
Democratic Development and Public Goods Spending: a Comparative Politics Approach Using the American States during the Antebellum Period (1789-1860)
|
|