Reconsidering Reparations

Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò

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Reparations for slavery have become a reinvigorated topic for public debate over the last decade. 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 a different case for reparations - one rooted in a hopeful future that tackles the issue of climate change head on, with distributive justice at its core. This view, which he calls the "constructive" view of reparations, argues 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.

This approach to reparations, as Táíwò shows, has deep and surprising roots in the thought of Black political thinkers such as James Baldwin, Martin Luther King Jr, and Nkechi Taifa, as well as mainstream political philosophers like John Rawls, Charles Mills, and Elizabeth Anderson. Táíwò's project has wide implications for our views of justice, racism, the legacy of colonialism, and climate change policy.

Book Details

Publisher: Oxford University Press
Publish Date: Jan 20th, 2022
Pages: 280
Language: English
Edition: undefined - undefined
Dimensions: 7.90in - 5.40in - 1.30in - 0.85lb
EAN: 9780197508893
Categories: • Political• Ethics & Moral Philosophy• Cultural & Ethnic Studies - General

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About the Author

Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Georgetown University. His theoretical work draws liberally from the Black radical tradition, contemporary social science, and histories of activism and activist thinkers. His public philosophy, including articles exploring intersections of climate justice and colonialism, has appeared in The New Yorker, The Guardian, The New Republic, The Nation, Foreign Affairs, The Philosopher, Aeon, and Boston Review. His book Elite Capture: How the Powerful Took Over Identity Politics (And Everything Else) is forthcoming from Haymarket.

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What people are saying

Jill Filipovic

@JillFilipovic

3 years

Writer, author, CNN columnist, recovering lawyer, and yogi. I write about women's rights, US politics, and foreign affairs

Happy pub day to Reconsidering Reparations, a book I cannot wait to read by one of the most brilliant thinkers I know. Seriously, you are going to want to buy this book (and read everything Femi writes). Can't wait to see how it shapes... everything. https://bookshop.org/books/reconsidering-reparations/9780197508893 https://twitter.com/OlufemiOTaiwo/status/1463507809551724551

Natasha Lennard is a journalist and essayist.

Reviewed @OlufemiOTaiwo’s excellent Reconsidering Reparations for the new @bookforum issue… professional philosophy’s interest in questions of reparations has not historically done the issue justice. Happily, Táíwò breaks with that tradition!

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"Táíwò works from the premise that a fruitful program of reparations must be future-looking." @natashalennard reviews @OlufemiOTaiwo's RECONSIDERING REPARATIONS (@OUPPhilosophy), which argues for a "constructive view of reparations" and climate justice: https://bit.ly/3maQPNz

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Praise for this book

"Olúfẹmi Táíwò's Reconsidering Reparations offers a novel, passionate, and compelling account of reparative justice in the contemporary world. Offering a "constructive" theory of reparations, Táíwò combines two pressing moral and political concerns: reparations for historical injustices, and environmental justice for future generations." -- Felix Lambrecht, University of Toronto, Ethics

"This book takes on the question of reparations for the damage wrought by colonialism and slavery. Drawing on the efforts of anti-colonial activists of the 20th century, Táíwò calls for a constructive approach to reparations to establish a new world order based on justice." -- J. M. Rich, CHOICE

"Colonialism isn't over. Instead of men in pith helmets, the rich now send pollution, climate catastrophe, development consultants and philanthropists. In this sweeping, subtle and sophisticated analysis, Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò presents an iron-clad case for why colonialism's end must coincide with a reparative transformation in relations between the colonizer and colonized, in the Global North and South. It's required reading for anyone looking for the arguments to support a just, and healing, future." -- Raj Patel, author of The Value of Nothing and co-author of Inflamed: Deep Medicine and the Anatomy of Injustice

"Weaving together the long-held redistribution demands of revolutionary movements for racial justice and decolonization with the scientific imperative for immediate climate action, Olúf?´&mi Táíwò builds the irresistible case for decarbonization through reparation. Coursing with moral urgency and propelled by brilliant prose, this is more than argument. It's how we build the power needed to win." -- Naomi Klein, Author of This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate

"An extremely welcome intervention into the contemporary debate about reparations." -- Vanessa Wills, The George Washington University

"In this forcefully argued book, Olufemi Taiwo grounds the case for reparations in a sweeping yet synthetic account of the historical origins of our starkly unequal world order. Weaving together multiple traditions of radical thought and attuned to the most pressing debates of our moment, Taiwo reveals reparations to be world-making in two potent senses of the term. As a means of dismantling and transforming Global Racial Empire--necessarily a project planetary in its spatial horizons and internationalist in the scope of its solidarities--reparations are in turn a requirement for saving the earth and human society from the climate crisis." -- Thea Riofrancos, author of Resource Radicals: From Petro-Nationalism to Post-Extractivism in Ecuador

"I give my highest recommendation to Táíwò's philosophically rich and important book." -- Jennifer M. Page, Radical Philosophy Review

"Reconsidering Reparations introduces new intuitions to the usually philosophically stagnant debates of reparations and climate justice. This book will be of interest to scholars and general readers interested in the philosophical justification of progressive politics. Specifically, it can be of great help for those who know that we need to consider the injustices of the past to build a just and livable future." -- Josep Recasens, Erasmus Journal for Philosophy and Economics