Transitional justice and the struggle for reparations for slavery and its ongoing legacies in the United States

As global uprisings for racial justice put questions about historical and ongoing racial injustice higher on academic, public and political agendas, transitional justice (TJ) scholars increasingly started to explore which dynamics of racial injustice might be supported by, or reflected in, the practice of TJ. These questions have mostly been addressed by critical TJ scholars, who formulate an encompassing critique regarding pitfalls of formalised and standardised TJ. Despite these critiques, however, some grassroots actors across the globe are mobilising, re-appropriating and re-signifying TJ practices and rhetoric as part of their struggle for redress. For example, this can be observed among certain activists seeking reparations for African people for enslavement and its associated legacies of institutional racism in the United States. In this interview between Joyce Hope Scott, Cira Pall & iacute;-Asper & oacute; and Tine Destrooper we explore what the implications are of this mobilisation of TJ rhetoric and tools by racial justice activists, both for this specific struggle for reparative justice, as well as for the broader domain of TJ. The piece underscores the nexus between TJ and protest foregrounding the revolutionary potential of TJ rhetoric and initiatives when these are used in non-scripted and innovative ways by social movements and activists who seek to disrupt a harmful status quo

Criminology · Economic Justice · Human rights · Political science · Sociology · Transitional justice · Colonialism, slavery, and trade · Historical and Contemporary Political Dynamics · Law