Injustice and the Reproduction of History Structural Inequalities, Gender and Redress

Demands for redress of historical injustice are a crucial component of contemporary struggles for social and transnational justice. However, understanding when and why an unjust history matters for considerations of justice in the present is not straightforward. Alasia Nuti develops a normative framework to identify which historical injustices we should be concerned about, to conceptualise the relation between persistence and change and, thus, conceive of history as newly reproduced. Focusing on the condition of women in formally egalitarian societies, the book shows that history is important to theorise the injustice of gender inequalities and devise transformative remedies. Engaging with the activist politics of the unjust past, Nuti also demonstrates that the reproduction of an unjust history is dynamic, complex and unsettling. It generates both historical and contemporary responsibilities for redress and questions precisely those features of our order that we take for granted.

1. Introduction; 2. De-temporalising (historical) injustice; 3. The structural reproduction of unjust history; 4. History, injustice and groups; 5. Defining women as a group; 6. Women and the reproduction of unjust history in egalitarian contexts; 7. The policy of the unjust past; 8. The politics of the unjust past; 9. Conclusion: responsibility and the process of redress; References; Index.

Alasia Nuti is Lecturer in Political Theory at the University of York. Her work is situated at the intersection of analytical political theory, critical theory, gender studies and critical race theory. Her work has appeared in the Journal of Political Philosophy, Ethics & International Affairs, Feminist Theory, Political Theory and Ethics & Global Politics. Nuti was also awarded the prestigious Elizabeth Wiskemann Prize for the study of inequality and social justice from the Political Studies Association.