The Reparative Conjuncture

September 12, 2023 4:15-5:30 p.m. (PST)

Our societal present is shaped by the insurgent recognition of antiblackness following the murder of George Floyd. This moment qualifies as a reparative conjuncture where reparations are as feasible as ever. Drawing on my scholarship and work on the CA Reparations Task Force, I examine the possibilities for African American reparations by analyzing the societal and ethical limitations of what kind of reparations this moment can produce and what Black repair should ideally be.

Jovan Scott Lewis Associate Professor and Chair of Geography University of California, Berkeley. From 2021-2023, He was a Governor appointee to the California State Reparations Task Force. He is the author of Scammer’s Yard: The Crime of Black Repair in Jamaica (University of Minnesota Press) and Violent Utopia: Dispossession and Black Restoration in Tulsa (Duke University Press).