Mini symposium: Colonial Slavery, Trauma, Reparation, and the Role of the Church

This keynote will reflect on the notion of collaborative transformative justice, as an alternative to that of restorative justice, in light of the ongoing and intergenerational trauma stemming from slavery, colonial rule and racial segregation that still haunts society. Legacy issues related to slavery and colonialism since the 16th century continue to be discussed and recently received renewed attention, also here in the Netherlands. What is at the heart of such discourses? If restitution, do we exclusively refer to or think of it in terms of financial restitution? In this paper I would like to explore the notion of collaborative transformative justice as a framing for this discourse. This is based on an understanding that collaborative transformative justice must deal with the lived realities of people, yet in the context of the continued impact of past injustices. It is in the first place about people in relationship, both past and present, their individual and collective identities, the framing of these relationships and identities, and how these may need to be reconstructed in light of the ongoing and intergenerational trauma stemming from past injustices. The paper will explore some theological nuances related to the concept, in relation to the (still very present) after-effects of slavery and colonialism in South Africa, the core of which would lean not only on the heart of the Confession of Belhar, but also on key themes on relationality from Levinas, Buber, and the African philosophies of Ubuntu and Ujaama.