February 3, 2026

Defenses against Truth-Telling and Reparative Action – Lynne Layton

How might we understand group forms of conscious and unconscious obstacles to political projects of truth-telling and reparation? This talk entertains some of the ways such obstacles have been described, including as an effect of “moral injury,” as an inability to experience “deserved shame,” as a “group-reinforced denial” of causing harm, and as an effect of obedience to group norms that set the terms for “belonging.”