Boyle, Mark
(2015)
In the face of epistemic injustices?: on the meaning of
people-led war crimes tribunals.
Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 33.
pp. 697-713.
ISSN 0263-7758
Abstract
This paper seeks to render intelligible the meaning of the vibrant tradition of
people-led war crimes tribunals (PWCTs) which has emerged in the past half a century.
Drawing upon recent postcolonial critiques of extant literature on geographies of care
and responsibility, and informed by Third World Approaches to International Law
(TWAIL), we question the capacity of the international legal system to provide justice for
‘others’ (especially subaltern and colonised communities) at a distance. We situate PWCTs
in the context of the claim that the international legal system is systemically contaminated
because it is conceptually Western. We interrogate the seminal Russell Tribunal on Vietnam
(1966–67) and in so doing are led to place under scrutiny the postcolonial and dialectical
ethics which characterised the work of French philosopher, literary giant, and political
activist Jean-Paul Sartre before, during, and after his tenure as Executive President of this
tribunal. We argue that insofar as PWCTs speak subaltern truth to power, they work to
decentre the Western ethical, legal, and juridical canon and confront insidious epistemic
injustices. We conclude that any search for a postcolonial ethics to guide caring from afar
can both inform and be informed by PWCTs.
| Item Type: |
Article
|
| Keywords: |
Jean-Paul Sartre; people-led war crimes tribunals; Russell Tribunal;
postcolonial geography; law; ethics; Vietnam; |
| Academic Unit: |
Faculty of Social Sciences > Geography |
| Item ID: |
8694 |
| Identification Number: |
https://doi.org/10.1177/0263775815598101 |
| Depositing User: |
Mark Boyle
|
| Date Deposited: |
28 Aug 2017 11:39 |
| Journal or Publication Title: |
Environment and Planning D: Society and Space |
| Publisher: |
SAGE Publications |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| URI: |
|
| Use Licence: |
This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available
here |
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