The Moral Psychology of Forgiveness in Contexts of Political Rupture

Date: 

Thursday, October 5, 2017, 4:30pm to 6:30pm

Location: 

Eliot Lyman Room, Longfellow Hall, HGSE

Dr. Molly Andrews (University of East London) will explore the relationship between narrative, apology, and time, and the moral and ethical boundaries between them.  A strong ethical discourse favors both public apologies and displays of forgiveness for moral transgressions in public life. Yet the implications of these processes are often left unexamined.  Who can apologise to whom and for what?  Can forgiveness be bestowed on behalf of others who are no longer there?  Must forgiveness be preceded by an acknowledgement of wrong-doing? Prof. Andrews will examine these and other questions, drawing on examples from the Nuremberg Trials, South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and original data from her longitudinal study with key actors in East Germany’s ‘bloodless revolution’.

Molly Andrews is Professor of Political Psychology, and Co-director of the Centre for Narrative Research at the University of East London. Her research interests include political narratives, the psychological basis of political commitment, political identity, and patriotism. Her books include Lifetimes of Commitmen, Shaping History: Narratives of Political Change and Narrative Imagination and Everyday Life.