Reconsidering Reparations

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Táíwò is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Georgetown University, where he teaches social/political philosophy with an emphasis on themes and figures from anti-colonial thought, anti-capitalist thought, and the Black radical tradition. He completed his PhD at University of California, Los Angeles and BAs in Philosophy and Political Science at Indiana University. He is the author of the newly published Reconsidering Reparations (January 2022) and the soon-to-be published Elite Capture (May 2022). For more, see http://www.olufemiotaiwo.com/. 

On Thursday, he will be talking about the first of these books. Here's a title and abstract:

"Reconsidering Reparations"

Abstract: Most theorizing about reparations treats it as a social justice project - either rooted in reconciliatory justice focused on making amends in the present; or, they focus on the past, emphasizing restitution for historical wrongs. Olúfemi O. Táíwò argues that neither approach is optimal, and advances what he calls the "constructive" view of reparations: that reparations should be seen as a future-oriented project engaged in building a better social order; and that the costs of building a more equitable world should be distributed more to those who have inherited the moral liabilities of past injustices. The ethos and perspective brings climate justice to the forefront of the struggle for racial justice and addressing the wrongs of the past and present.