Overcoming Historical Injustices: Land Reconciliation in South Africa

329 Pages·2009·3.277 MB·English

by  James L. Gibson

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OvercomingHistoricalInjustices
Land ReconciliationinSouthAfrica
OvercomingHistoricalInjusticesisthelastentryinJamesL.Gibson’s
‘‘overcoming’’trilogyonSouthAfrica’stransformationfromapartheid
todemocracy.Focusingontheissueofhistoricallanddispossessions–
thetakingofAfricanlandundercolonialismandapartheid–thisbook
investigates the judgments South Africans make about the fairness of
theircountry’spast.Forinstance,shouldlandseizedunderapartheidbe
returned today to its rightful owner? Gibson’s research zeroes in on
groupidentitiesandattachmentsasthethreadthatconnectspeopleto
thepast.Evenwhenindividualshaveexperiencednodirectharminthe
past,theycareaboutthefairnessofthetreatmentoftheirgrouptothe
extentthattheyidentifywiththatgroup.Gibson’sanalysisshowsthat
land issues in contemporary South Africa are salient, volatile, and
enshroudedinsymbolsand,mostimportant,thatinterracialdifferences
in understandings of the past and preferences for the future are
profound.
JamesL.GibsoniscurrentlytheSidneyW.SouersProfessorofGovern-
mentatWashingtonUniversityinSt.Louis.Hehaspublishedmorethan
100 refereed articles and chapters in a wide range of national and in-
ternationalsocial-scientificjournals,includingalloftheleadingpoliti-
cal science journals. He has also published five books, including the
award-winningOvercomingApartheid:CanTruthReconcileaDivided
Nation? and Citizens, Courts, and Confirmations: Positivity Theory
andtheJudgmentsoftheAmericanPeople(co-authoredwithGregory
A. Caldeira, forthcoming). Gibson has served as the President of the
MidwestPoliticalScienceAssociationandasanofficeroftheAmerican
Political Science Association. His research has been recognized with
numerousawards.Gibson’soverallresearchagendaondemocratization
wasrecognizedwiththe2005DecadeofBehaviorResearchAward.

CAMBRIDGE STUDIES IN PUBLIC OPINION
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JAMESH.KUKLINSKI,UniversityofIllinois,Urbana-Champaign
Cambridge Studies in Public Opinion and Political Psychology pub-
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Overcoming Historical Injustices
Land Reconciliation in South Africa
JAMES L. GIBSON
Washington University in St. Louis
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo
Cambridge University Press
The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK
Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York
www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521517881
© James L. Gibson 2009
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the
provision of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part
may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published in print format 2009
ISBN-13 978-0-511-54099-8 eBook (NetLibrary)
ISBN-13 978-0-521-51788-1 hardback
ISBN-13 978-0-521-14440-7
Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy
of urls for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication,
and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain,
accurate or appropriate.
This book is dedicated to Monica E. Kinsella,
without whom there would be no
worthwhile past, present, or future.