Earlier Titles
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In this sweeping international perspective on reparations, Time for Reparations makes the case that past state injustice—be it slavery or colonization, forced sterilization or widespread atrocities—has enduring consequences that generate ongoing harm, which needs to be addressed as a matter of justice and equity.
Time for Reparations provides a wealth of detailed and diverse examples of state injustice, from enslavement of African Americans in the United States and Roma in Romania to colonial exploitation and brutality in Guatemala, Algeria, Indonesia, Jamaica, and Guadeloupe. From many vantage points, contributing authors discuss different reparative strategies and the impact they would have on the lives of survivor or descent communities.
One of the strengths of this book is its interdisciplinary perspective—contributors are historians, anthropologists, human rights lawyers, sociologists, and political scientists. Many of the authors are both scholars and advocates, actively involved in one capacity or another in the struggles for reparations they describe. The book therefore has a broad and inclusive scope, aided by an accessible and cogent writing style. It appeals to scholars, students, advocates and others concerned about addressing some of the most profound and enduring injustices of our time.
​Praise for Time for Reparations
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"The past lives in the present of all of us who are the survivors and descendants of extreme forms of inhumanity, and how we deal with it varies in profound ways, from those who would rather forget to those who demand both moral and material remediation as well as full acknowledgement and restorative apology for past injustices. This volume thoroughly and expertly explores all aspects of this tragic problem, from the slow and swift genocides of slavery and Nazi extermination to the sustained, multifaceted crimes of colonialism, as well as the legal, political and other lessons learned in the struggle for remedial justice. The richly informed and powerfully argued chapters fully persuade the reader of the urgency of a movement that has lately gained renewed vigor as well as moral, legal and intellectual clarity and direction. Above all, the work makes clear that the reparation movement’s goals are not only those of acknowledging and rectifying past wrongs and of preventing future ones but, as the police killings of black Americans make clear, of alleviating the inherited evils of the past still active in our times."
— Orlando Patterson, author of Slavery and Social Death: A Comparative Study
"Injustices carry consequences, and unaddressed injustices impose consequences that grow and compound, burdening individuals and societies for generations. Time for Reparations brings history, rigor, and imagination to prospects for reparative approaches to searing human rights wounds. This is the time, and here are viral roadmaps for constructive repair."
— Martha Minow, author of When Should Law Forgive?
Realizing Roma Rights investigates anti-Roma racism and documents a growing Roma-led political movement engaged in building a more inclusive and just Europe. The book brings to the forefront voices of leading and emerging Romani scholars, from established human rights experts to policy and advocacy leaders with deep experience.
Realizing Roma Rights offers detailed accounts of anti-Roma racism, political and diplomatic narratives chronicling the development of European and American policy, and critical examination of Roma-related discourse and policies in contemporary Europe. It also investigates the complex role of the European Union as a driver of progressive change and a flawed implementer of fundamental rights.
This book will provide a useful source for those interested in the dynamics of contemporary stigma and discrimination, the enduring challenges of mobilizing within severely disempowered communities, and the complexities of regional and transnational human rights mechanisms. Spanning as it does a broad disciplinary range that encompasses law, history, sociology, political theory, critical race theory, human rights, organization theory, and education, Realizing Roma Rights is a useful teaching tool for interdisciplinary courses on human rights, racism and xenophobia, political theory, European studies, and minority issues.
Contributors: Jacqueline Bhabha, James A. Goldston, Will Guy, Fernando Macías, David Mark, Teresa Sordé-Martí, Margareta Matache, David Meyer, Andrzej Mirga, Kálmán Mizsei, Krista Oehlke, Alexandra Oprea, Elena Rozzi, Erika Schlager, Michael Uyehara, Peter Vermeersch.
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Praise for Realizing Roma Rights
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"Roma history includes accounts of terrible discrimination but must also pay attention to the development of an admirably courageous global community-beautifully combining resistance to imposed disadvantage with instinctive tolerance of different ways of life of others. This splendid collection of essays brings out the richness of the Roma story-what the world owes to this massively disadvantaged group, and, no less important, what the world has to learn from the global culture of this locally defiant community spread across the world."
—Amartya Sen, Harvard University
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"By juxtaposing European and American Roma experiences, Realizing Roma Rights demonstrates that Roma cannot fight racism and discrimination without strategic allies in both their countries of origin and their adopted homelands and makes clear the need to develop Roma networks that can advocate for human and legal rights in their communities. Anyone working toward achieving rights for Roma, especially those working in European and international commissions, as well as non-governmental organizations, would benefit from reading this book."
—Romani Rose, Chairman of the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma
Early Development of Roma Children: Risk and Protective Factors is a pioneering work in the analysis of the social ecology of Roma children in their early years, starting from the closest contexts (family, community, peers, kindergarten) to the broader social and political spheres.
The book features chapters that analyze both the factors and the stakeholders directly related to the early development of Roma children, namely: the history of the Roma – as a starting point for today’s inequities, contemporary public policies and, implicitly, institutions, specifically the agents of change or architects of choices; socioeconomic factors, the socioeconomic inequalities faced by Roma families compared to the majority population; the major contexts in which children develop, namely shared values in Romanian society, relationships and interactions with the preschool environment, and immediate interactions such as those with family, children, teachers, educators, and neighbors.
The first part includes the theoretical framework on which the work is built and presents the main concepts the book operates with: social ecology, social contexts, human rights, collective rights, and social, cultural, and human capital. The second part presents the consequences of oppressive policies, historical inequalities, and the transition to democracy on the Roma population, factors that have led to limited educational opportunities for Roma children.
The third part analyzes the contexts and social interactions in which Roma children develop, starting from Bronfenbrenner's ecological model but focusing on the elements and contexts that are considered relevant and specific to the Roma situation. The fourth part presents the risk factors existing at the societal level that contribute to the reduction of opportunities for Roma children. The fifth chapter analyzes the public policies that have been adopted and implemented by Romania for the members of Roma communities. The final part presents the conclusions and reflections of the work, and also proposes a theory of change.
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​Praise for Time for Reparations
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"Among the few publications in Romania that include the education of Roma children on the list of important topics, Magda Matache’s book provides a strong argument for rethinking the approach to public policies in Romania regarding the Roma population and Roma children. The arguments put forward by the author are built on realities from the field, on both diachronic and synchronic critical reflection on the social, economic, cultural, and political situation of the Roma population in Romania, intertwining the voice of the activist with that of the researcher and practitioner. Magda Matache’s book is not a report, as many have been written; it is a statement that aims to eliminate the reductionist and simplistic way of thinking about the issues facing all Roma children in Romania."
— Dr. Mihaela Ionescu, Program Director, International Step by Step Association
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"Sensitivity, honesty, and constant effort are the guiding threads from which Margareta Matache’s book is woven—a Roma intellectual who never for a moment forgets where she started and how many barriers she herself overcame to become not only a fervent advocate for the right of Roma children to education but also a courageous author who proposes a theory of change. This new theoretical and practical model of “post-oppressive-assimilationist integration of Roma” is visionary and idealistic. Through this case study on Romania, a paradigm shift is proposed for a society saturated with “indifference and disregard” for the problems of “others,” and for the application of democratic values: non-discrimination, cultural diversity, and equal opportunities. In this way, Margareta Matache draws on the hard experience of working in the poorest villages, schools, and kindergartens in Romania, the traumatic experience of segregation and downgrading, transforming it all into an eloquent plea for change and for the realization of the right of children to quality education. Her model should be followed by other Roma intellectuals: “per aspera ad astra” (through hardships to the stars).
— Prof. LetiÈ›ia Mark, Professor and Roma activist