Race and International Law

This mini-course is an introduction to thinking about race as method for the study of international law. If the international legal order is primarily structured around the categories of nation and state, the notion of race continues to haunt it in important and often unacknowledged ways. The course will explore the tension between (a) race as a social phenomenon that is transnational if not global in scope and (b) the construction of race in contemporary international law, where it is often treated as a domestic matter of non-discrimination norms in human rights law. The course will also examine the present-day legacies of international legal norms and institutions connected to slavery and formal colonialism. Materials will be drawn from contemporary UN human rights mechanisms, state practice and case law, and legal claims by anti-colonial/racial justice movements. This class will meet the first five weeks of the quarter (September 25 to October 23). Elements used in grading: Class evaluation will be based on attendance, participation, and short reflection papers before the five class sessions.