The Sins of the Nation and the Ritual of Apologies

ISBN-13: 9780521516693 / Angielski / Twarda / 2009 / 294 str.

Danielle Celermajer

Opis

In the last years of the twentieth century, political leaders the world over began to apologize for wrongs in their nations pasts. Many dismissed these apologies as mere words, cynical attempts to avoid more costly forms of reparation; others rejected them as inappropriate encroachments into politics or forms of action that belonged in personal relationships or religion. Yet, political apologies have gripped nations and provoked tremendous resistance. To understand apology s extraordinary political emergence, we have to suspend our automatic interpretations of what it means for nations to apologize and interrogate their meaning afresh. Taking the reader on a journey through apology s religious history and contemporary apologetic dramas, this book argues that the apologetic phenomenon marks a new stage in our recognition of the importance of collective responsibility, the place of ritual in addressing national wrongs, and the contribution that practices that once belonged in the religious sphere might make to contemporary politics."

Recenzje

'Since approximately the mid-1980s there has been a large increase in the number of apologies in the public sphere and Celermajer's book is a major addition in trying to explain how the concept of the apology makes sense in this sphere and how it reveals the limitations of liberal concepts of justice.' Michael Cunningham, Journal of Modern Jewish Studies

Spis treści

Introduction: the apology and political theory; 1. The apology phenomenon; 2. Apologies as speech acts; 3. Judaism's apology: reconstituting the community; 4. The privatization of repentance in Christianity; 5. Australia's divided history; 6. Saying sorry in Australia; 7. Apology's responsibility; 8. Apology as political action; Bibliography.