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International Law’s Objects:
Emergence, Encounter and Erasure through Object and Image
Dr. Jessie Hohmann and Dr. Daniel Joyce, the editors, invite proposals for
contributions to an edited book on International Law’s Objects: Emergence,
Encounter and Erasure through Object and Image.
AIMS AND SCOPE OF THE PROJECT
The study of international law is highly text based. Whether as practice, scholarship
or pedagogy, the discipline of international law both relies on and produces a wealth
of written material. Cases, treaties, and volumes of academic writing are the legal
sources through which most of us working in international law relate to the subject,
and, at times we might come to feel that these texts are our major project and output.
Yet international law has a rich existence in the world. International law is often
developed, conveyed and authorised through objects or images. From the symbolic
(the regalia of the head of state and the symbols of sovereignty), to the mundane (a
can of dolphin-safe tuna certified as complying with international trade standards),
international legal authority can be found in the objects around us. Similarly, the
practice of international law often relies on material objects or images, both as
evidence (satellite images, bones of the victims of mass atrocities) and to found
authority (for instance, maps and charts).
Motivating this project are three questions:
First, what might studying international law through objects reveal? What
might objects, rather than texts, tell us about sources, recognition of states,
construction of territory, law of the sea, or international human rights law?
Second, what might this scholarly undertaking reveal about the objects – as
aims or projects – of international law? How do objects reveal, or perhaps
mask, these aims, and what does this tell us about the reasons some
(physical or material) objects are foregrounded, and others hidden or ignored?
Third, which objects will be selected? We anticipate a no doubt eclectic but
illuminating collection, which points to objects made central, but also objects
disclaimed, by international law. Moreover, the project will result in a
fascinating artefact (itself an object) of the preoccupations of the profession at
There are various ways one might begin to think about international law through
objects. These categories are offered provisionally, and are in no sense intended to
constrain the imagination of contributors:
The first is those objects which are used routinely in the study and practice of
international law. These include treaties and diplomatic cables for instance.
These are normally rendered in text but represent important objects of interest
in their own right. An extension of this category, also routinely used in
international law scholarship and practice, are maps.
A second category might be those ritual objects that seek to convey the power
and authority of international law though their symbolic weight. Such objects
might include, for example, the flag planted by Captain Cook to claim the
territory now known as Australia, the gavel used in the Nuremberg trials, or
the Hague Peace Palace itself.
A third category of objects are those that convey the way international law
operates over individuals. For example, consumer goods marked to
demonstrate compliance with international standards illustrate complex issues
of trade regulation and our experience of it, while a relocation village built to
accommodate ‘project affected peoples’ illuminates another aspect of global
development. Meanwhile, a landmine is a way of interrogating international
humanitarian law, a skull from a mass grave a way of considering the
international crime of genocide. An image of the border fence between the
US and Mexico might illustrate contemporary manifestations of territory.
A fourth category could investigate those objects ‘written out’ of international
law. For example, these objects might include the regalia of sovereignty of
peoples denied that sovereignty by international law, such as the two-row
Wampum belts of native communities in North America. This category is
perhaps the most difficult to predict by an international lawyer trained to see
objects inside the borders of our understandings of the law, and it expected
that those contributing will bring to light objects not anticipated by the editors
In each instance, the object or image invites us to consider international law from a
different angle. In each, it brings to light not only the object itself, which in many
instances will be fascinating in its own right, but what that object ‘says’ about
international law and its processes, history, and development. In addition, the object
tells us something about the author and his or her approach to international law.
The result will be an edited volume composed of images of ‘international law’s
objects’, with accompanying text explaining and illuminating the relevance and
importance of the object to the development, impact, status or authority of
The forty best contributions will be selected for publication in the edited volume, and
other excellent contributions will also be considered for inclusion in a digital archive
Accordingly, we invite you to select one image or object, which in your view best
represents your area of expertise within international law, or international law as a
whole, and to write about its significance in international law. We also invite scholars
from other disciplines to bring their perspectives to bear on international law’s
Contributions should be short – 3000 to 4000 words – and will be set alongside
photographs of the selected image or object. The contributions should be written for
a non-specialist audience so the volume can be enjoyed across disciplines, and as a
teaching tool for students at all levels. Contributions should be lightly footnoted. We
anticipate contributors will be able to speak meaningfully about their objects without
Proposals for chapters should be kept to a maximum of 700 words, keeping in mind
the final contributions are to be no more than 4000 words.
Proposals should be submitted, by email, to objectsofil@gmail.com
The call for papers closes Friday April 18th 2015.
Successful authors will be notified by end of July 2015.
We would expect full draft contributions to be ready for circulation to contributors by
December 2015, for discussion at a workshop hosted at Queen Mary, University of
London, in April 2016 (with a workshop date to be confirmed shortly).
Dr. Jessie Hohmann, Lecturer in Law, Queen Mary, University of London
Dr. Daniel Joyce, Lecturer in Law, University of New South Wales