Document Type

Article - On Campus Only

Publication Date

2017

Abstract

In this reflection, I take up the contradiction of calling for justice to be delivered from the same institutions that, under contemporary conditions of settler-colonial and white supremacist hetero-patriarchy, are often themselves the sources of injustice. I argue for an orientation toward justice that grounds itself on its condition of failure, drawing on Beauvoir’s existentialist ethics and queer theory’s embrace of failure as a resource for critical analysis and liberation. From an abolitionist perspective, I thus call for thinking about justice as failure in order to better hear the voices and respond to the demands of those most marginalized by carceral logics and practices.

Original Publication Citation

Dilts, Andrew. “Justice as Failure.” Law, Culture and the Humanities 13, no. 2 (June 1, 2017): 184–92.

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