LE3 .A278 2018

2018

Trofanenko, Brenda

Acadia University

Master of Arts

Masters

Social and Political Thought

Politics

The trauma of genocide is a wound that is passed down through generations. This continuance prompts curiosity as to how one can live after genocide. My thesis explores the case study of the 1904-1908 German colonial genocide of the Herero. Over a century later, the Herero has requested monetary reparations from Germany. Is it possible for the Herero to receive justice? Can reparations heal the wounds of genocide? Through an engagement with Lacanian psychoanalytic theories of trauma, as well as theories of responsibility and reparations through Nozick, Barkan, Thompson, and Minow, this case study will be analyzed within a postcolonial context through the work of Mbembe so as to come to an understanding of how best to contend with historical injustice. Although my research suggests that repair of the wound of genocide is an impossibility, I argue that the symbolic aspect of reparations has the potential to facilitate psychological transformation.

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https://scholar.acadiau.ca/islandora/object/theses:3189