Ludic Ubuntu Ethics develops a positive peace vision, taking a bold look at African and Indigenous justice practices and proposes new relational justice models.
‘Ubuntu’ signifies shared humanity, presenting us a sociocentric perspective of life that is immensely helpful in rethinking the relation of offender and victim. In this book, Nagel introduces a new theoretical liberation model—ludic Ubuntu ethics—to showcase five different justice conceptions through a psychosocial lens, allowing for a contrasting analysis of negative Ubuntu (eg., through shaming and separation) towards positive Ubuntu (eg., mediation, healing circles, and practices that no longer rely on punishment). Providing a novel perspective on penal abolitionism, the volume draws on precolonial (pre-carceral) Indigenous justice perspectives and Black feminism, using discourse analysis and a constructivist approach to justice theory. Nagel also introduces readers to a post secular turn by taking seriously the spiritual dimensions of healing from harm and highlighting the community’s response.
Spanning disciplinary boundaries and aimed at readers seeking to understand how to move beyond reintegrative shaming and restorative justice theories, the volume will engage scholars of criminology, philosophy and law, and more specifically penal abolitionism, social ethics, peace studies, African studies, critical legal studies, and human rights. It will also be of great interest to practitioners and activists in restorative justice, mediation, social work, and performance studies.
Author(s): Mechthild Nagel
Series: Routledge Studies in Penal Abolition and Transformative Justice
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 242
City: London
Cover
Endorsement
Half Title
Series Information
Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
Figures
Tables
Foreword
Preface
Introduction
The White Mountain Apache Spirit Dancer
Introduction: Troubling Western Justice
Agonist Play in the Western Punishment Theater
Ubuntu—A Forward-Looking Relational Ethics
Musings About a Ludic Ubuntu Or: What Does Play Have to Do With It?
Conclusion
Notes
1 Just-Us Or Justice as Vengeance
Why Punish?
Punishment as Revenge
Post-traumatic Stress Disorder of Prisoners—The Psychological Effects of Institutionalization
Two Senses of Justice: Roman vs. Egyptian
Are Gender-Responsive Prisons the Answer?
A Note On Vengeance: Between Noblesse Oblige and Contempt
Colonial Justice Administration
Haunting Kant Or an Ubuntu Way to Think About Dignity
Abolition Now (For Some)
What About Alternative Courts? Gentler in Nature?
Ambiguity in Justice
Negative Ubuntu and Colonial Justice as Witchcraft
The Onto-Criminological Status of Persons and Non-Persons: Masks of Personhood
Ludic Ubuntu—Agonistic Battles
Justice as Retribution
On Slow Death Row
Masking Reciprocity
United States as Penal Capitalist Democracy
Conclusion
Notes
2 Policing Families: The Many-Headed Hydra of Surveillance
Child Welfare Rights Or Wrongs
The Meaning of Surveillance
In the Tentacles of Family Court and Criminal Court
The Patriarchal State Apparatus: Policing Families Through the Adoption and Safe Family Act
Childcare in the Crossfire of Cultural Clashes
Conclusion: The Way Forward
Notes
3 The Context of Insurrectionist Justice: Resisting the Looting of Black Bodies
Outlaw Origins of Nation-Building
Enslavement Codes and the Battle Cry for Dignity
Possessive Investment in Whiteness—Black Lives Matter?
Insurrectionist Justice Meets Carceral Feminism
A Call for Abolition Democracy
Notes
4 Between Ressentiment and Forgiveness: Transitional Justice in Rwanda and South Africa
The Case of Rwanda—Negative Ubuntu Ideology
Amnesty and Forgiveness: The Case of South Africa’s TRC
Between Resentment and Ressentiment
The Trouble With Collective Responsibility
Conclusion: Lessons for Penal Abolitionists
Note
5 A Transformative Justice Paradigm: A Call for Ludic Ubuntu Justice
Games We Play
Reforming ‘Justice’
The Need for Transformative Justice Considerations
Forgiveness Stories—Transforming Ressentiment Into Hope
In Praise of Accountability?
Shifting From Trauma-Informed Care to Healing-Informed Care
Experiencing Ludic Ubuntu Justice Through Performance Art
Forgiveness and Ludic Ubuntu in the Indigenous Wisdom Traditions
The Hawai’ian Justice Concept of Ho’oponopono
Sociocentric Versus Ego-Centric Justice—Returning to the Relational Horizon of the Medicine Wheel
Lakota Circle of Courage
Applying the Circle of Life Philosophy: “You Can’t Say You Can’t Play!”
Healing Circles, Not Sentencing Circles
Us Versus Them and the Dance of Interdependence
Unity Consciousness
Reintegration Without Shame and Punishment
Seeking Safety, Not Punishment—Insights From Polyvagal Theory
Role of Laughter and Forgiveness in Healing Relations—Surprising Redemption Stories
A Prayer for Laughter
Unconditional Forgiveness
Beyond Forgiveness
Medicine Wheel Meets the Western Box
Redressing Structural and Systemic Violence and Injustice
Who Is Invited to Participate in Ludic Ubuntu Justice Principles?
Notes
Bibliography
Index
