We are pleased to announce the theme for the 2019 issue of the Journal of Educational Controversy.
NEW CALL FOR PAPERS
Volume 14, 2019
Theme:
The Ethics of Memory: What Does it Mean to Apologize for Historical Wrongs
To apologize for a wrong committed can imply any
number of things: that one has committed a wrong against another, that the
wrong was done intentionally, that one committed the wrong with malice, that
one is consciously aware of doing the wrong, that one has remorse, that one is
seeking to right the wrong, that one feels a sense of guilt over committing the
wrong, and/or that one is seeking
redemption and reconciliation. But what
does it mean for a state to apologize for an historical wrong that was committed
long before its present members were born, but who may still continue to derive
benefits from that wrong? Recently, a university chancellor apologized for her
university's role in past racial injustices and acknowledged the “profound
injustices of slavery” as she sought to reconcile the past with the present and
the future. College protests around confederate statues stir conflicts between
arguments over historical injustices and historical heritage. Historical figures who laid the foundation
for the enlightenment principles embedded in the founding documents are found
wanting in the ethics of historical memory and identity. And the Supreme
Court’s current reconsideration of affirmative action brings the issues back
into the legal domain, as courts grapple with how to redress the effects of
slavery and Jim Crow on educational opportunity. Alternatively, authors may
find that the conceptual framework that embeds our question carries certain
assumptions that ignores a framework that would center experiences like the
Japanese-American internment camps or the Native American Boarding Schools
rather than foregrounding them. Would
placing the experiences of those who have been wronged central to our inquiry
change the very way we pose the problem.
How does the very notion of apology even look from the perspective of
those who have suffered these wrongs? Words and their meanings have histories
and continue through lived experiences that are named and experienced
differently. For instance, racialized
and other marginalized communities often refer to ‘wronged’ as historically and
generationally traumatic—perhaps a different metaphor that communicates
suffering is needed? In the midst of
what is often highly contentious confrontations, this issue of the journal is
seeking articles that can bring moral clarification and rigorous discernment to
the topic.
Deadline
for Manuscripts: June 30, 2019
