Epistemic injustice is a relatively new philosophical term for a rather old phenomenon. A situation is said to be epistemically unjust when someone is wronged in his capacity to possess or convey knowledge. While anyone can be the victim of a testimonial injustice, the epistemic injustice that occurs in an exchange of testimony, people with marginalized identities systematically suffer from this kind of injustice. By relying on negative identity prejudices, a person in a position of power consciously or subconsciously undermines a marginalized individual’s capacity for knowledge. In this paper, I argue that persistent testimonial injustice can inhibit the formation of one’s identity. Then I explore the role that communities may play in ameliorating this harm. I suggest that communities are conceptualized differently depending on their purpose (e.g. psychological melioration or political resistance). In the final part of this paper, I examine two conceptions of communities put forth by María Lugones and Iris Marion Young and determine whether they can provide both psychological and political resources for resistance.

This study examines the cultural practices of the Sámi people and how they are affected by climate (in)justice within the European Union (EU). The establishment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has led many global actors such as the EU to commit and implement sustainable mitigation strategies. This paper explores if the EU in pursuit of sustainable development has neglected human rights issues through its mitigation strategies. This is important to understand in order to safeguard indigenous communities´ rights within the EU in light of the climate crisis and to avoid climate injustices in the form of racism, discrimination, and exclusion. This study makes use of three theoretical frameworks: green colonialism, environmental and climate justice, and textual analysis as a method to analyse gathered material. This paper argues that the Sámi and their cultural practices are neglected within decision-making processes and sustainable mitigation strategies, threatening Sámi livelihood security and their cultural identity. The analysis as part of a larger issue highlights tensions within sustainable development pursuits on a global level.

Published Article / The teachers' salary strike, which occurs almost annually in South Africa, is so widespread that it seems to have gained public toleration if not complete acceptance. However, the strike may have a lasting and devastating impact on the teachers' as well as the learners' discipline, motivation and morale, with the learners being the hardest hit. The strike has a negative impact on the learning and teaching culture and on the learners' academic performance. Although the teachers' strike is about salaries and salary-related matters, all too often, debates about it shift from the strike to the tension between the teachers' right to strike and the learners' right to receive education. This study endeavours to fathom the truth about the two rights, to establish whether they can stand side by side without contradicting each other, and to study their implications.

This dissertation focuses on the role of the church as a social conscience in its quest for human dignity. It specifically explores the role played by the Anglican Church of Southern Africa in the restoration of human dignity through the contributions made by the various bishops and archbishops in addressing the challenges of socio-economic and political injustice faced by society. Furthermore, this dissertation explores the practical mission and ministry of the parish of St Thomas in Kagiso 1, Krugersdorp in its quest for human dignity aimed at addressing the contextual socio-economic and political injustices and to alleviate suffering. Special emphasis in this dissertation is put on the biblical and theological substantiation which necessitated the various prophetic mission and ministries. / Systematic Theology and Theological Ethics

The overall aim of the study is to investigate how 12 Years a Slave can help raise awareness among upper secondary students about racism and to inspire sympathy with the characters presented in passages regarding the cruelty and injustice of slavery. The study is based on literary didactics methods, applied to the textual analysis of the passages, to create a hypothetical scheme for teachers that can be used to work with slave narratives in the classroom. The analysis of the passages, in conjunction with the literary didactics methods used, provides methods through which students may increase their awareness of racism and sympathize with the characters in the book by creating their own plays, reenacting the cruelty committed against slaves. Also, when dealing with the injustice of slavery, students can imagine themselves being present even though they will not be able to experience it physically. This may help students sympathize with the main character and help them understand racism from the victim’s point of view.

In this thesis, I examine the theoretical and practical implications of understanding asylum as a form of reparation. My basic contention is that offers of asylum potentially constitute a means through which states can discharge their special obligations towards refugees for whose flight they are responsible. Asylum, on my account, is an institution that can contribute to the rectification of the unjustified harms that states may have caused refugees by forcing them to flee. The thesis is divided into three main parts. In Part I, I lay out a basic theory of asylum as reparation, explaining my conception of asylum and its potential moral functions in Chapter 1, and demonstrating the ways in which asylum may act reparatively in Chapter 2. In Part II, I seek to identify the conditions under which states owe asylum as reparation to refugees. Over the following three chapters, I argue that states have such an obligation when they bear outcome responsibility for unjustified harms experienced by refugees as a result of their flight, and when asylum is the most fitting form of reparation for those harms that is available. In Part III, I apply my theory to the case of Iraqi refugees generated since the invasion of Iraq in 2003, and explore some of the practical implications of my approach. In Chapter 6, I argue that the US and UK owe asylum as reparation to large numbers of Iraqi refugees. In Chapter 7, I examine the implications of my approach for domestic asylum politics, questioning how states should prioritise refugees to whom they owe reparation vis-à-vis other refugees, and exploring its potential impact on debates over asylum. In Chapter 8, I identify its implications for the international politics of refugee protection, anticipating some of the incentives that it might create for states.

This study emanates from a concern about social injustice. I believe that a number of people in our society, by virtue of their race, gender or class, are disadvantaged in the distribution of wealth and privilege. Some people have suggested that schools contribute to the maintenance and reproduction of this situation because, in various ways, they replicate inequitable social, political and economic arrangements. I accept this claim and argue that any attempt to improve schooling must focus on the social, economic and political outcomes of education, as well as on curricular, pedagogical and administrative concerns. In this study one recent attempt to improve Australian education, the move to school-level curriculum evaluation, is examined to ascertain if it represents a challenge to existing school practices and the beliefs and assumptions which underpin these. Dominant ideological orientations to improvement are examined and their key features and assumptions delineated. Because I believe that these exclude any consideration of the relationship between school knowledge and the distribution of power and privilege within society, an attempt is made to reconceptualize school-level curriculum evaluation in a way that will permit teachers to unpack what schools do socially, politically and economically. Theories of cultural and economic reproduction and the work of Freire are drawn on to help with this task. Evaluation policy statements and guidelines and examples of evaluation practice are then analysed in terms of dominant and reconceptualized notions of evaluation. What emerges is that although many of these are engulfed by dominant and limiting ideologies, school-level curriculum may be reconceptualized in a way that will permit the penetration and contestation of dominant practices and beliefs and thereby will offer educators a possible means of addressing problems of social injustice.

Scholars speculate that government apologies and compensation for historical injustices promote forgiveness and reconciliation, as well as psychologically benefit members of the victimized group. However, they have not offered theory or compelling evidence in support of these assumptions, nor do they discuss how redress affects the majority group. Across four studies, I examined how Chinese and non-Chinese Canadians psychologically responded to offers of apologies and compensation for the Chinese Head Tax. Overall, it was better to give than receive the redress. When participants thought redress had not been offered, non-Chinese Canadians evaluated it less favorably than Chinese Canadians. But, when participants thought redress had been offered, non-Chinese Canadians evaluated it more favorably than Chinese Canadians did, confirming the predictions of balance and system justification theory. An offer of apology and compensation for the Chinese Head Tax did not influence Chinese Canadian participants’ forgiveness or reconciliation feelings. The redress offer also did not lead Chinese Canadians to feel more identified with Canadians or Chinese Canadians, nor did it lead Chinese Canadians to evaluate Chinese Canadians more positively. On the other hand, the majority group, non-Chinese Canadians, evaluated their group more positively and considered the system of government less responsible for the harm when both an apology and compensation were offered, as justice motivation and social identity theories predict. The current results inform interdisciplinary discussions of the potential effects of apologies and compensation by suggesting additional psychological effects of redress. They also demonstrate that, despite concerns that the majority will backlash against their government giving apologies and compensation, majority group members increased their favor of redress measures once they were offered.

Scholars speculate that government apologies and compensation for historical injustices promote forgiveness and reconciliation, as well as psychologically benefit members of the victimized group. However, they have not offered theory or compelling evidence in support of these assumptions, nor do they discuss how redress affects the majority group. Across four studies, I examined how Chinese and non-Chinese Canadians psychologically responded to offers of apologies and compensation for the Chinese Head Tax. Overall, it was better to give than receive the redress. When participants thought redress had not been offered, non-Chinese Canadians evaluated it less favorably than Chinese Canadians. But, when participants thought redress had been offered, non-Chinese Canadians evaluated it more favorably than Chinese Canadians did, confirming the predictions of balance and system justification theory. An offer of apology and compensation for the Chinese Head Tax did not influence Chinese Canadian participants’ forgiveness or reconciliation feelings. The redress offer also did not lead Chinese Canadians to feel more identified with Canadians or Chinese Canadians, nor did it lead Chinese Canadians to evaluate Chinese Canadians more positively. On the other hand, the majority group, non-Chinese Canadians, evaluated their group more positively and considered the system of government less responsible for the harm when both an apology and compensation were offered, as justice motivation and social identity theories predict. The current results inform interdisciplinary discussions of the potential effects of apologies and compensation by suggesting additional psychological effects of redress. They also demonstrate that, despite concerns that the majority will backlash against their government giving apologies and compensation, majority group members increased their favor of redress measures once they were offered.

This dissertation focuses on the role of the church as a social conscience in its quest for human dignity. It specifically explores the role played by the Anglican Church of Southern Africa in the restoration of human dignity through the contributions made by the various bishops and archbishops in addressing the challenges of socio-economic and political injustice faced by society. Furthermore, this dissertation explores the practical mission and ministry of the parish of St Thomas in Kagiso 1, Krugersdorp in its quest for human dignity aimed at addressing the contextual socio-economic and political injustices and to alleviate suffering. Special emphasis in this dissertation is put on the biblical and theological substantiation which necessitated the various prophetic mission and ministries. / Systematic Theology and Theological Ethics