Europe in Front of its Colonial Past. The Question of Historiography

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5195/errs.2021.525

Keywords:

Ricœur, Historiography, Colonization, Injustice.

Abstract

This paper employs Paul Ricœur’s insights to examine how European states should approach their colonial past. First, I explore the significance of historical knowledge for people from formerly colonized countries through the views of several anti-colonial thinkers. Then, referring to Ricoeur’s analyses in History and Truth, Time and Narrative and Memory, History, Forgetting, I examine the grounds and the legitimacy, of a historiography of colonization. I argue that European states should make the history of colonization part of their school curricula, as an expression of Europeans’ debt to the victims of the colonial past, and as a way to prevent the repetition of the colonial crimes.

Author Biography

Anna Milioni, King's College London

I am a PhD student at King’s College London’s Philosophy Department. I hold a Research Master’s degree in Ethics and Political Philosophy from the KU Leuven, which I obtained with a scholarship from the Onassis Foundation. I also hold a Master’s degree in Philosophy of Law and a University degree in Law from the University of Athens. My research interests revolve around migration, justice, democracy and political participation.

References

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Published

2021-07-19

Issue

Vol. 12 No. 1 (2021)

Section

Articles

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