Call for Papers: International Law and the Periphery

The Law Department of the American University in Cairo and Sydney Law School have issued a call for papers for a conference on "International Law and the Periphery," to be held in Cairo, February 16-18, 2012. Here's the call:

One year on from the "Arab Spring", join us in Cairo to explore contemporary geographies of international law. You are invited to reflect anew upon the "cores" and "peripheries" of international legal knowledge and practice in the face of recent structural shifts. Where (if anywhere) are they located today? Does international law project a disciplinary periphery, or several? Who or what occupies international legal peripheries today and what does peripheral status imply? What may be at stake in the mapping of cores and peripheries? Are there cores in the peripheral and vice versa? To what extent, if at all, do core-periphery dynamics in international law channel development and reform? Long associated with dependency theory, world systems theory and geographical analyses of trade, core-periphery schematics have nonetheless informed international legal thought, argument and policy-making in a wide range of ways. This conference will enable scholars of law and related disciplines to revisit core-periphery dynamics in global governance, in both their symbolic and their material dimensions, and contribute to their re-imagining for the current age.

Co-hosted by the American University in Cairo Law Department and Sydney Law School at the University of Sydney, this conference will afford both established and emergent scholars working in or around the international legal field an invigorating opportunity to explore the foregoing theme.

Keynote addresses will be made by:

• Professor Arjun Appadurai, Goddard Professor of Media, Culture, and Communication at New York University (confirmed); and
• Professor David Kennedy, Director of the Institute for Global Law and Policy and Professor of Law at Harvard Law School (TBC).

Submissions of proposed conference presentations and/or panel proposals are warmly invited. Those wishing to present papers at the conference should submit abstracts in English of no more than 200 words, together with a brief statement outlining their institutional affiliation(s) (if any) and contact details, to peripheryconference@gmail.com by 30 September 2011. Those who would like to propose a panel (comprised of three speakers) should do so at the same time.

Limited ground transportation and all conference catering, materials and activities will be covered by the host organisations. In addition, a limited number of modest stipends may be available to conference speakers on the basis of financial need; please indicate at the time of submission if you would like to seek this assistance. Unfortunately, however, no funding is available to support conference participants’ travel to Cairo. Any questions may be directed to Fleur Johns or Thomas Skouteris at fleur.johns@sydney.edu.au and tskouteris@aucegypt.edu, respectively.

We look forward to seeing you in Cairo in February 2012.