Apologies, Restitutions, and Compensation

Author(s):  
Robert Aldrich

Coming to terms with an imperial past has involved difficult and often divisive questions of how far the inhabitants of former imperial powers should accept responsibility for the deeds of their predecessors, how far back into the past one might go to remedy such injustices, and what happens when the reparative demands of injured parties conflict with the security and well-being of others. This chapter looks at a range of cases and claims for restitution, reparation, and apologies in order to consider how the imperial past has entered into the public domain, the selectivity of imperial memories, and processes of reconciliation. After discussing the historical conjuncture in which demands have arisen, this chapter explores three types of ‘reparative politics’: apologies and expressions of regret for colonial-era actions, restitution of heritage objects in metropolitan collections, and monetary compensation for the perceived crimes of colonialism.

2012 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mutiah Amini

<p>Pesat was a local newspaper in Semarang published in the 1940s during the late colonial era. The establishment of Pesat could not be separated from the couple of I.M. Sajoeti and S.K. Trimurti, the owners of the newspaper, who were best-known as activitists of Political Party and senior journalists in Semarang at that time. As a local newspaper, the content of this publication differed considerably from the other local newspaper which mostly focused on news and advertisements. Pesat continuously published some information that had not been addressed by the media anywhere before. Pesat published transparently on the problems of family life and household. In particular, Pesat pointed the problems of marriage which placed women in domestic area in which they were not permitted to speak about the problems they were facing to other people in the public domain. This meant that a matter concerning the life of household which was previously considered private space was now published as news available to newspaper readers.</p> <p>Keywords: Pesat, private, colonial, Semarang, Java.</p> <p> </p> <p>Pesat adalah sebuah koran lokal di Semarang yang diterbitkan pada 1940-an selama era kolonial akhir. Pembentukan Pesat tak lepas dari pasangan IM Sajoeti dan SK Trimurti, pemilik surat kabar, yang dikenal sebagai aktifis Partai Politik dan wartawan senior di Semarang pada waktu itu. Sebagai koran lokal, isi dari publikasi ini berbeda jauh dari koran lokal lainnya yang berfokus pada berita dan iklan. Pesat terus menerbitkan beberapa informasi yang belum ditangani oleh media manapun sebelumnya. Dalam publikasi mereka, Pesat dipublikasikan secara transparan pada kehidupan masalah keluarga dalam rumah tangga. Secara khusus, diangkat masalah seputar pernikahan yang menempatkan perempuan dalam ruang domestik dan perempuan tidak diperbolehkan untuk berbicara tentang masalah yang mereka hadapi kepada orang lain dalam domain publik. Ini berarti bahwa masalah yang berkenaan dengan kehidupan rumah tangga yang sebelumnya dianggap ruang pribadi yang ada di luar keluarga diizinkan untuk tahu tentang itu sekarang telah diterbitkan sebagai berita tersedia bagi pembaca surat kabar.</p> <p>Kata kunci: Pesat, pribadi, kolonial, Semarang, Jawa.</p> <p> </p>


2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 114-135
Author(s):  
Ilija Upalevski

The aim of this paper is to closely examine the ways in which the outdoor mural as a form of art. has been used for commemorative purposes in the context of the Polish capital. Drawing on content analysis this paper will argue that regardless of their democratic potential and potential to act subversively in the public domain, the commemorative murals in the case of Warsaw are predominantly reflecting the official narrations/representations of the past and thus reproducing the state-supported, nation-centered, male-dominated perspective of history. Referring to Wulf Kansteiner methodological instructions, the paper introduces the notion of “secondary” memory makers in order to describe the position the mural makers are occupying in the field of Warsaw’s cultural memory. It will also be argued that mural makers, by adapting their works to the demands of the cultural institutions responsible for the memory production and dominant discourses of memory from mainly pragmatic reasons, are forgoing a fair portion of the democratic and subversive potential of the murals. As such, the paintings on the walls are, intentionally or not, further involved in more complex state-sponsored strategies of nationalizing the public space.


2016 ◽  
Vol 72 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Noah K. Tenai

Poverty continues to present an enormous challenge to the well-being of humanity. Different frameworks on poverty tend to identify different persons as poor, impacting on efforts to fight poverty. The church as a role player in the public domain needs a framework that can assist it in its task of working for salvation and liberation in the face of overwhelming poverty. Acombined framework, from Amartya Sen’s entitlement approach and capability approach, is amalgamated and suggested as an integrated framework that could act as a lens or a viewpoint from which the church could venture to conceptualise, quantify and respond to instances of poverty. Keywords: Poverty; Church; Well-being; Amartya Sen; Entitlement Approach; Capability Approach


2015 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica Begon

Abstract:G.A. Cohen has criticized the capability approach for focusing on individuals’ freedom – their capability to control their lives – and ignoring benefits achieved passively. He argues that this view of well-being is excessively ‘athletic’. However, if the capability approach is employed to guide egalitarian public policy, capabilities are the appropriate goal of just distributive policies, not just components of individual well-being. When understood as a policy-guide, I argue that the capability approach's focus on ‘athletic’ individual freedom and control is justified: in the public domain, it is important not just that individuals receive benefits, but that they participate in their achievement.


Author(s):  
M. Teresa Caneda-Cabrera

In recent years Irish society has witnessed an upheaval in public opinion before the discovery of conspiracies of silence hiding stories of institutional abuse which had remained concealed from the public domain. These narratives of secrecy have been consistently identified and stripped away by writers like Emer Martin whose novel The Cruelty Men (2018) denounces the fact that forgetting and silence are woven into the fabric of society and politics in Ireland. Drawing on the notion of consensual silence, the article explores The Cruelty Men as a text that addresses institutional abuse and challenges official discourses by rescuing the unheard voices of the victims and inscribing their untold stories into the nation’s cultural narrative. As the article will discuss, ultimately the novel calls attention to the healing power of storytelling as a way of renegotiating  Ireland’s relationship with the silences of the past.


2017 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Khalilah Zakariya ◽  
Syamim Azhari

The implementation of public art in the outdoor spaces has been acknowledged by various designers and researchers to enliven public spaces. The contributions of public art towards social well-being have also gained a growing attention among researchers for the past three decades. Within the recent years, efforts of placemaking have begun to be initiated by local authorities, as a way of reinforcing the sense of belonging among the public towards their public spaces. While the placemaking process is commonly adopted as a method to revive cities and communities, however, there has not yet been any documentation on the use of public art as part of the process, particularly in Malaysia. This study aims to establish the Eco Public Art Placemaking Framework to guide local authorities and built environment professionals adopt public participation in the public art process. This study has examined Laman Seni Shah Alam as a case study, which is a back lane revitalization project that has been transformed through eco public art. Through semi-structured interviews with the local authority, the organizer and the artists, this study has discovered that the framework is collaborative and multidisciplinary, and that there are four main phases in the framework. This study concludes that the framework has potential to be adopted by local authorities in Malaysia, and it can enable a more holistic process between the local government, consultants, artists and the public.


Oikos ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (31) ◽  
pp. 81
Author(s):  
Miguel Ángel Medina Romero ◽  
Carlos Topete Barrera ◽  
María Trinidad Cerecedo Mercado

RESUMEN Este trabajo tiene como propósito realizar un análisis en torno a la calidad educativa en México, en la consideración de la política gubernamental que las administraciones federales, del pasado y actual, han instaurado en el caso concreto de la educación superior pública. Lo anterior bajo la adopción del supuesto de que, hoy por hoy, la educación constituye el factor fundamental de la prosperidad de los países y del bienestar de sus sociedades. Por ello, alcanzar una educación de alta calidad con equidad debe ser una asignatura de primera importancia en la agenda de la política gubernamental.Palabras clave: calidad educativa, educación superior, política gubernamental. Analysis about the quality of the Mexican public superior education in the light of the governmental policyABSTRACTThe purpose of this paper is to analyze the situation of the educative quality in Mexico taking into account the governmental policy that the past and present federal administrations, have established in the case of the public superior education. It supposing that at the moment the education is the main factor of the prosperity of the countries and the well-being of its societies. For this reason, to reach an education of high quality with fairness must be a very important intention in the subjects of the governmental policy.Keywords: educative quality, superior education, governmental policy.


2005 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joan E. Durrant ◽  
Staffan Janson

Over the past 70 years, Sweden has implemented a series of proactive legal reforms aimed at eliminating the corporal punishment of children in homes, schools and institutions. The most recent of these reforms took place in 1979 when Sweden became the first nation to explicitly abolish corporal punishment. The primary purposes of the ban were to recognize and affirm children's rights to security of the person and to inform the public and professionals that corporal punishment is neither socially acceptable nor legally defensible. It was expected that, over time, parents would demonstrate decreasing support for this practice and decreasing use of it. Ultimately, it was expected that the ban, and the legal reforms that led up to it, would contribute to lower levels of parental violence toward children. In the present article, evidence from a variety of sources is examined to assess trends in child physical abuse in Sweden over time. It is concluded that acts of violence against children have declined dramatically in Sweden over recent decades corporal punishment is infrequent, serious assaults are uncommon, and child abuse fatalities are extremely rare. Implications of legal reform for the well-being of children are discussed.


2017 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Khalilah Zakariya ◽  
Syamim Azhari

The implementation of public art in the outdoor spaces has been acknowledged by various designers and researchers to enliven public spaces. The contributions of public art towards social well-being have also gained a growing attention among researchers for the past three decades. Within the recent years, efforts of placemaking have begun to be initiated by local authorities, as a way of reinforcing the sense of belonging among the public towards their public spaces. While the placemaking process is commonly adopted as a method to revive cities and communities, however, there has not yet been any documentation on the use of public art as part of the process, particularly in Malaysia. This study aims to establish the Eco Public Art Placemaking Framework to guide local authorities and built environment professionals adopt public participation in the public art process. This study has examined Laman Seni Shah Alam as a case study, which is a back lane revitalization project that has been transformed through eco public art. Through semi-structured interviews with the local authority, the organizer and the artists, this study has discovered that the framework is collaborative and multidisciplinary, and that there are four main phases in the framework. This study concludes that the framework has potential to be adopted by local authorities in Malaysia, and it can enable a more holistic process between the local government, consultants, artists and the public.


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