Abstract
This chapter explores the psychological dimensions of restorative justice, reparations, and reconciliation in the aftermath of slavery, colonisation, and apartheid. We consider the role of apologies and truth-telling as potential steps towards the type of memory work and accountability required for healing historical wounds; and reflect on some of the initiatives undertaken by African nations and Africans in the diaspora to deal with the internal violences that have swept across the continent in the post-slavery/post-colonial era. Calls for reparations and truth and reconciliation commissions have had ambiguous effects on people’s dignity and well-being and call into question the ideals of a Pan-African vision of unity and solidarity across the continent and the diaspora.
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Notes
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The 1876 Indian Act is a Canadian federal law that governs in matters pertaining to Indian status, bands, and Indian reserves. See Erin Hanson, E. (n.d.). The Indian Act. Indigenous foundations arts. Retrieved on 23 February 2021 https://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/the_indian_act/
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The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) is a grouping of twenty countries: fifteen member states and five associate members. except for Belize, in Central America and Guyana and Suriname in South America, and of which all members and associate members are island states.
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Kessi, S., Boonzaier, F., Gekeler, B.S. (2021). Towards a Pan-African Psychology of Restorative and Reparatory Justice. In: Pan-Africanism and Psychology in Decolonial Times. Pan-African Psychologies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-89351-4_7
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