On the occasion of the ESIL
Research Forum (Koç University Law School and the Center for Global Public
Law in Istanbul, 21-22 April 2016) the ESIL Interest Group on the History of
International Law hereby invites submissions, in English or in French, for a Workshop
on global approaches to the history of international law. The workshop targets
scholars at an early stage of their careers, especially PhD students and
post-doctoral researchers.
Since its inception the discipline of the
history of international law has been approached from the perspective of
European states. Teleological visions of history as progress often dominate the
discourse of textbooks on international law, making the implicit claim that it
was the providence of European states to gradually, from the 15th
century onwards, create a universal and ‘globalised’ world order. Attempts have
been made to alter this discourse by alternatively highlighting the disruptive aspects
of Western international law in the service of European imperialism and by
pointing out the criticism offered by non-Western states and scholars against instances
of European oppression. In light of these developments recent scholarschip has
called for the creation of a ‘global’ history of international law which moves
beyond the traditional Eurocentric paradigm and which also awards a voice to
indigenous and non-Western histories of international law. This raises
questions as to the methodology and the substance of a global history of
international law.
In light of these questions, the IGHIL
invites submissions from phd researchers and post-doctoral researchers within
the fields of international law, history, legal history and politics on topics
relating to:
a)
‘histories’ of international
law from a global perspective with an emphasis on the historical state practice
and intellectual history of indigenous people and non-Western States relating
to international law
b)
the historical relationship and
interaction between non-Western and Western international law including stories
of participation and confrontation with respect to, for example, human rights,
humanitarian international law, international criminal law, etc.
c)
the methodological challenges
of a global history of international law, including questions of periodisation,
epistemology, narrative, etc.
Each submission should include:
a) An abstract of no
more than 400 words;
b) The intended
language of presentation;
c) A short curriculum
vitae containing the author’s name, institutional affiliation, contact
information and e-mail address.
Abstracts must be
submitted no later than 15 January 2016 to Shavana Musa (Shavana.Musa@uvt.nl) or Thomas Skouteris (Thomas.Skouteris@me.com) on behalf of the Steering Committee of the Interest Group, which shall
collectively supervise the peer-review process of the abstracts. Applicants
will be notified on the outcome of the selection process by 15 February 2016.
Selection will be based on scholarly merit and with regard to producing an engaging workshop, without prejudice to gender, seniority, language or geographical location. Please note that the ESIL Interest Group on the History of International Law is unable to provide funds to cover the conference registration fee or related transport and accommodation costs.
Selection will be based on scholarly merit and with regard to producing an engaging workshop, without prejudice to gender, seniority, language or geographical location. Please note that the ESIL Interest Group on the History of International Law is unable to provide funds to cover the conference registration fee or related transport and accommodation costs.
