Chapter Yesterday's Tomorrows and Todays

Overview & Synopsis

Time is an essential dimension of our shared understandings of the historical significance or fairness of a particular event or situation. The ways time is constructed, however, are characterized by a plurality of diverse and sometimes inconsistent representations. This book examines the uses of different conceptualizations of time in explaining injustice and justice in society from an interdisciplinary perspective. It is the temporal representations that are the focus of this book here: How and by whom are they constructed, how do they weave together or fray in the process of working through temporary or permanent injustices, and what spaces are made or quashed for different understandings of time? The book gathers scholars from different backgrounds with expertise from law, history, politics and international relations, philosophy, and sociology to examine the temporality of (in)justice in society. The chapters of the book are integrated around a coherent central theme: The unavoidable intertwining of time and justice. As well as addressing the lived processes of collectively coming to terms with temporal experiences and justice, the book work also discusses the different disciplinary ways of making sense of such processes and the strengths and pitfalls of each approach. The collection will be of interest to researchers and students of legal theory, international relations, global history, memory studies, and political philosophy.