Irreconcilable times

Mookherjee, Nayanika

doi:10.1111/1467-9655.13760

Irreconcilable times

Mookherjee, Nayanika

Authors

Professor Nayanika Mookherjee nayanika.mookherjee@durham.ac.uk
Professor

Abstract

In Denktagebuch (Thought diary, 1950-73), Hannah Arendt wrote that acts which cannot be forgiven are beyond punishment and hence cannot be reconciled to. In this essay, I draw from Arendt to further theorize and extend the concept of irreconciliation. I draw together ethnographic material, historical material, documents, media reports, and reviews during this era of irreconcilability which includes Black Lives Matter; the memorialization debates on the removal of statues of enslavers; the history of slavery in the United Kingdom; and the ‘harmony ideology’ experienced by BAME (Black, Asian, and minority ethnic) academics within UK organizations linked to long-term discrimination. I argue for the concept of irreconciliation as a bulwark against impunity, against a ‘window-dressed’, symbolic performance of redress, and to be able to echo Arendt's words that ‘this’ – any original cause of injustice – ‘ought never to have happened’.

Citation

Mookherjee, N. (2022). Irreconcilable times. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 28(S1), 153-178. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9655.13760

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Mar 4, 2022
Online Publication Date	May 20, 2022
Publication Date	2022
Deposit Date	Jun 28, 2022
Publicly Available Date	Jun 29, 2022
Journal	Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute
Print ISSN	1359-0987
Electronic ISSN	1467-9655
Publisher	Wiley
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	28
Issue	S1
Pages	153-178
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9655.13760
Public URL	https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1200640

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© 2022 The Authors. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Royal Anthropological Institute.

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