History, Politics, Law: In Conversation

To mark the publication of History, Politics, Law: Thinking through the International (CUP 2021) the editors are convening a forum for reflection on the interdisciplinary conversations reflected in this volume, and in other recent works including Martti Koskenniemi’s To the Uttermost Parts of the Earth: Legal Imagination and International Power, 1300–1870 (CUP, 2021).

We hope to give participants space to reflect on questions emerging from this work, and explore the future of interdisciplinary interaction, without the pressure of presenting formal papers.

The event will have two components: a day of panel conversations and a book event, open to all; and a smaller by-application doctoral workshop, not open to the public.

15 July, 9am–4:30pm - Panel conversations (hybrid: limited in-person tickets, unlimited online ticket)

The History, Politics, Law volume presented overarching methodological reflections, and a series of chapters from lawyers and historians arranged around themes of potential dialogue (‘Law and Constructions of the Political’; ‘Empires, States and Nations’; ‘Institutions and Persons’; ‘Economics and Innovation’; and ‘Gender’). We hope to spark some further grounded yet open-ended exchanges through thematic panels on

• Discipline, identity and responsibility
• Translation
• Beyond the textual
• Temporality, chronology and periodization

Each panel will begin with a loose set of shared questions, and panelists will speak to these questions briefly through the lens of their own work, past or current; followed by discussion between panelists and audience Q&A. Panelists are not expected to speak ‘for’ their discipline in any sense, but rather ‘through’ their own, more specific, work: the emphasis is not to converge on methodological prescription but to see what emerges from juxtaposing some distinct projects.

There is some limited capacity to join the event in person at UCL. If you are booking to attend in person, please only do so if you are able to participate for the whole day on 15 July; otherwise, it will be possible to join on Zoom for particular panels.

Download a copy of the programme (subject to change)

15 July, 5.30-6.30pm - Author interview and audience Q&A with Martti Koskenniemi (hybrid: limited in-person tickets, unlimited online tickets)

This session will focus on Koskenniemi’s new monograph, To the Uttermost Parts of the Earth: Legal Imagination and International Power, 1300–1870. This work offers a sweeping resource from and through which to think about many of the themes explored in the panels, as well as opening new avenues for reflection across disciplines and periods.