Description: Since the end of the 20th century, social movements around the world have called for accountability and reparation for past harms, particularly harms committed by states against various minority groups. This volume argues that guilt is a productive force that helps to balance unequal power dynamics between individuals and groups. With chapters bridging the social sciences, law, and humanities, chapter authors examine the role and function of guilt in society and present case studies from seven national contexts.
Review Quotes: "This is a bold and very welcome volume. Like the classics of Hannah Arendt and Karl Jaspers, but with a broader cultural outlook and greater disciplinary width, the book sustains comprehension, unfolds unrecognized complexities, and richly serves to qualify our conversation about the question (or rather questions) of guilt. Additionally, this is one of the best cases I have seen for the value of a carefully edited interdisciplinary volume." -- Thomas Brudholm, author of Resentments Virtue
"This extraordinary book has the potential of becoming a real game changer. The central idea of this brilliant co-disciplinary effort is that guilt is not necessarily the end of a story but can also be the beginning of a new one. In contexts of translating history into memory, guilt can work as a transformative force when linked to concepts like accountability, recognition, and responsibility. By generating prosocial emotions it can serve to re-establish injured relationships and balance unequal power arrangements." -- Aleida Assmann, University of Konstanz"How can we not only recognize, but also recover from, the atrocities of the past? Drawing on a global range of recent case studies, this book offers a kaleidoscopic, thought-provoking dive into new research on guilt in the aftermath of collective violence and confirms that penance can be productive. Mediated through religion, law, and politics, as well as film, literature, and theatre, guilt as a shared sense of moral responsibility can lead societies towards reconciliation" -- Patrick Gray, Durham University