Justice restoration is unachievable but identity rebuilding remains possible
Evidence
It is important to note, however, that justice repair, in the sense of restoring the status quo prior to victimization, is unachievable in contexts involving traumatic historical transgressions (Okimoto & Gollwitzer 2025). Nevertheless, reaching a new understanding of how the relationship works and building positive identities can be viewed as constructive, achievable future-oriented tasks [see Okimoto & Gollwitzer’s (2025) concept of justice making]. — Nurit Shnabel and Johannes Ullrich, Identity Needs in Intergroup Relations, 78
Categorization
- DEFINE: Introduces the concept of ‘justice making’ as distinct from status-quo restoration, a key definitional advance for intergroup reconciliation.
- XREF: connects to: Satisfying identity needs of victims and perpetrators facilitates reconciliation across groups. — Nurit Shnabel and Johannes Ullrich, Identity Needs in Intergroup Relations:…, 94; Colonized subjects reconstruct their identity by hand after it is shattered — Frantz Fanon, Constance Farrington, Black skin, white masks, 542; Reworking human identity beyond exclusion of the feminine is now survival, not justice — Val Plumwood, Feminism and the Mastery of Nature, 52 (+5 more)
Broader Connections
- Colonized subjects reconstruct their identity by hand after it is shattered
#exemplifies(0.85) — Frantz Fanon, Constance Farrington, Black skin, white masks, 542 - Individuals can deliberately reconstruct their public identities to escape origins
#corroborates(0.82) — W. David Marx, Status and Culture, 280 - Archival erasure of enslaved people limits but need not end genealogical recovery
#corroborates(0.80) — Tamara Lanier, From These Roots, 614 - Reclaimed identity terms retain traces of struggle rather than being cleansed of negativity
#expands(0.78) — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2, 397 - Without destruction of prior form, identity cannot sustain itself.
#qualifies(0.74) — Catherine Malabou, What Should We Do with Our Brain?, 245 - National reconciliation via confession can come at the longer-term cost of justice
#complicates(0.73) — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race, 1580 - Satisfying identity needs of victims and perpetrators facilitates reconciliation across groups.
#complicates(0.72) — Nurit Shnabel and Johannes Ullrich, Identity Needs in Intergroup Relations, 94 - Reworking human identity beyond exclusion of the feminine is now survival, not justice
#complicates(0.72) — Val Plumwood, Feminism and the Mastery of Nature, 52