102,807
edits
Changes
From Nordan Symposia
Jump to navigationJump to search→Definitions
:c : to protect from attack or encroachment : defend
:c : to protect from attack or encroachment : defend
*4 : to maintain a right to
*4 : to maintain a right to
==Description==
“'Vindication'” describes a style of [[political]] and [[intellectual]] [[discourse]] that [[motivates]] certain [[social movement]]s. [[Adherents]] of vindicationist movements believe that their [[group]] is undervalued by the broader [[society]], and they seek to rehabilitate and elevate their [[collective]] reputation. Vindicationist [[rhetoric]] argues that the [[minority]] group [[possesses]] qualities and [[abilities]] that are equal to or superior to those of the [[dominant]] group and that the dominant group’s [[prejudice]] against the minority is thus based on false premises. ''Vindicationism'' functions to [[motivate]] potential followers of the [[movement]] while [[simultaneously]] scolding the [[dominant]] group for failing to [[appreciate]] the admirable [[character]] and [[qualities]] of the people for whom the movement is advocating. Vindicationism is most commonly found in the [[ideologies]] of feminist movements and racial-[[ethnic]] nationalist movements.
An early example is [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Wollstonecraft Mary Wollstonecraft]’s ''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Vindication_of_the_Rights_of_Woman A Vindication of the Rights of Woman]'' (1792), a pioneering [[feminist]] treatise. Mary Wollstonecraft [[argued]] on behalf of [[women]]’s natural [[talents]] and [[abilities]] and held that women should not be measured according to [[essentially]] [[male]] [[standards]]. She asserted that men needed to [[change]] in order to end women’s [[oppression]]. Many of the [[ideological]] roots of twentieth-century liberal feminism trace back to Wollstonecraft.
A significant strain of ''vindicationism'' emerges in early African American [[political]] [[thought]]. Black [[abolition]]ist David Walker’s famous “Appeal” (1829) [[argued]] for the [[humanity]] and [[inherent]] rights of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_Americans African Americans]. Walker traces African American [[heritage]] back to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egypt ancient Egypt], whose cultural [[achievements]] [[demonstrate]] racial abilities [[equal]] or superior to those of whites.
The use of “vindication” among [[Social Sciences|social scientists]] to refer to a particular [[expression]] of minority grievances begins with Wollstonecraft’s feminism. The most common [[application]] of the “vindication” adjective has historically been to describe African American [[political]] writings of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. However, a recent shift has emerged in the [[social science]] [[community]]’s use of the [[concept]]. [[Political scientists]] now apply the term “vindicationism” to attempts by the United States to remake the world to conform to American [[values]]. This body of [[research]] locates the [[origins]] of American vindicationism in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_American_War_of_1898 Spanish-American War of 1898] and traces it through subsequent foreign interventions by the United States during the twentieth century. The vindicationist approach to foreign policy reached a peak with the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, as advocated and prosecuted by the George W. Bush administration and its neoconservative advisors.
[[Category: Political Science]]
[[Category: General Reference]]
[[Category: General Reference]]
