Sandew Hira is a writer, researcher, publisher and decolonial thinker and scholar.  His seminal works on reparations inform this crucial discussion on how exactly reparations – in particular monetary reparations for enslavement can be calculated, and why they are so important.  He joins us for a conversation with Arzu Merali about his work and activism, with a particular focus on the Decolonising the Mind concepts on reparations for enslavement.

Keywords: Transatlantic slavery, genocide, reparations, Decolonizing the Mind, colonialism, decoloniality, Holocaust.

Listen to the second podcast of 2019 and read more about Sandew Hira under the audio.  These podcasts are produced for the Genocide Memorial Day project, and are suitable for university students, activists and those wanting more detailed analyses of the what reparations are – both material and immaterial reparations.  In this podcast Hira unpacks the arguments used against the idea of reparations, sets out the stall for why reparations are needed and what forms these may take.  He also discusses the Decolonizing the Mind project which he leads, and how this impacts on the conceptualisation of liberation movements, social organising and the production of knowledge.

Hira has authored a number of books on the topic.  Find his book 20 Questions and Answers on Reparations for Slavery in the IHRC Bookshop & Gallery instore and online. Search the IHRC website for more videos and articles by him.

About Sandew Hira

Sandew Hira founded the International Institute for Scientific Research (IISR). He is an economist and historian and a representative of the decolonial historiography of Suriname. He leads the project Decolonizing The Mind, that looks into the question of how science has been influenced by colonialism.

He is the coordinator of the Decolonial International Network (DIN), and part of the editorial board at Amrit Publishers.

About Arzu Merali

Arzu Merali is a writer and researcher based in London. She is one of the founders of the Islamic Human Rights Commission and co-authored its study “Environment of Hate: The New Normal for Muslims in the UK” with Saied Reza Ameli.  She is the author of the UK reports and research in the EU funded Counter-narratives to Islamophobia project.