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Memories of historical injustices can be used as sources of social accountability that help communities to better address crises and prevent wrongs in their own times and places. They can also be misused to legitimate new injustices and even to distort social understanding in ways that make historical learning impossible. This talk analyzes how memories of the WWII oppression of Japanese-ancestry communities were used in post-9/11 debates about torture and racial/religious profiling in the so-called War on Terror. It shows that these injustices were first invoked as sources of alert and warning to defend Muslim/Arab communities but then used subsequently to justify oppressive measures. Donald Trump’s presidential run and subsequent term in office only intensified this trend. Today, a proliferation of disinformation, faulty parallels and various forms of historical denial suggest a new stage in the public uses of memory — one that attempts to undermine the very possibility of remembering injustices to promote informed public discussion and protect vulnerable groups.
Matt James is associate professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Victoria, where he studies the politics of reparation and transitional justice, focusing also on Canadian politics, constitutionalism and social movement studies.
This lecture will be offered as a hybrid event, in person (in AH100 at the University of Lethbridge campus) and online (through Microsoft Teams Webinar format). If you plan to attend online, please register for the event here.
To attend online, please register here.
Contact:
Miranda Leibel | miranda.leibel@uleth.ca | (403) 317-2890