Turntablism in the History of International Law

Bibliographic Data

ID12627245
AuthorsJean D’aspremont (0000-0002-0121-2334, Professor, School of Law, Sciences Po Paris France Law Department, University of Manchester Manchester United Kingdom, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume22
Issue2-3
Pages472-496
Publication date2020-10-21
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of the History of International Law / Revue d’histoire du droit international (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1388-199X • E-ISSN: 1571-8050
PublisherBrill (PUBLISHER • NL)
DOI10.1163/15718050-12340142
OpenAlexW3121343566
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited23

This article uses the metaphor of turntablism to shed light on the confinement of international lawyers’ engagement with history to the terms, vocabularies, and categories of the very historical narratives they seek to evaluate, disrupt, or displace. For the sake of this article, turntablism is understood here as the art of creating new music and sound effects by using one or several turntables on which a record is placed. This article argues that twenty-first century international lawyers engaging with the history of international law are talented turntablists in that the many historiographical works of international lawyers produced since the so-called ‘historical turn’ have remained confined to the very terms, categories, and vocabularies of the histories whose creation they have been discoursing and theorising. This article ultimately shows that turntablism is not the inevitable fate of international lawyers engaging with history, and that a radical historical critique is possible and should be promoted

Art · Historiography · Linguistics · Literature · Metaphor · Narrative · Oral history · Political science · Sociology · Anthropology · Historical and Contemporary Political Dynamics · History · International Law and Human Rights · Judicial and Constitutional Studies · Law · Philosophy