I just came across the CFP of a very interesting conference which will take place in Johannesburg, called 'Living with the past'. A few months ago I had complained about the Netherlands' failure to deal with their colonial past, so it is with concerns of this nature in mind that I am thrilled to see this CFP. It is nowhere near my own professional expertise, but I am delighted to see that philosophy can perhaps contribute to the proper treatment of such absolutely fundamental issues of 'real life'. I've heard Lucy Allais (the sender of the CFP to philos-l) speaking on the South-African “Truth and Reconciliation Commission” once, and it was truly inspiring. Definitely a conference to keep track of!
I couldn't find a link to the conference's website, so I'm copying here the CFP as posted on philos-l:
First call for papers: Living with the past
The Philosophy Department of the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, is hosting a conference on the topic ‘Living with the Past’.
Date: 3-5 June 2011
Keynote speakers:
Howard McGary (Rutgers)
Lionel K. McPherson (Tufts)
In 2008 the U.S. House of Representatives issued an apology to African Americans for the practice of slavery and subsequent Jim Crow laws. In the same year, the Australian government issued a formal apology to its aboriginal peoples for policies that "inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss". In South Africa, the “Truth and Reconciliation Commission” was tasked with responding to past wrongdoing through discovering and publishing the truth about the past, and through giving victims a forum, as well as (in theory) reparations. This conference explores certain moral issues arising from the above and similar responses to past wrongdoing, with a focus, but not an exclusive focus, on group wrongdoing.
Questions to be addressed by the conference include (but are not limited to) the following:
· How should we respond to past atrocities?
· Is the notion of collective guilt defensible?
· Does accepting an apology where there have been no reparations compromise the victims?
· Are reparations still required generations after the original victims of atrocity have died? What alternatives are there to reparations?
· What are the moral obligations of the descendents of the perpetrators of atrocity to the descendents of the victims of atrocity?
Deadline for submission of papers: 30 March 2011
(I won't copy the emails for contact to avoid spamming.)
Recent Comments