Arminius Rex: On the Postcolonial Uses of Imperial Languages in, and beyond, International Law

Daniel R. Quiroga-Villamarín

doi:10.17104/0044-2348-2024-2-281

Contents
- Chapter Expand | CollapseAuthorsPage
- Titelei/Inhaltsverzeichnis
- 205–218 Comment 205–218
  - Romancing International Criminal Justice: The European Union and Criminal Accountability in Ukraine Kertulli Lingenfelter Kertulli Lingenfelter
- 219–392 Abhandlungen 219–392
  - 219–230 Opening the Access to International Legal Scholarship – an Introduction Raffaela Kunz Raffaela Kunz 219–230
  - 231–260 The Proportion of Global South Scholarship in Elite International Law Publications Stewart Manley Stewart Manley 231–260
  - 261–280 andemic, Maternity, and Inter- national Lawyers from the Global South: a Call for an Intersectional Approach Lutiana Valadares Fernandes Barbosa Lutiana Valadares Fernandes Barbosa 261–280
  - 281–306 Arminius Rex: On the Postcolonial Uses of Imperial Languages in, and beyond, International Law Daniel R. Quiroga-Villamarín Daniel R. Quiroga-Villamarín 281–306
  - 307–329 Open Educational Resources and the Teaching of Public International Law: A German Lens on a Global Matter Max Milas Max Milas 307–329
  - 331–364 Extraterritoriale Schutzpflichten und ihre Entfaltung – dargestellt am Beispiel des Schwangerschaftsabbruchs im Kontext der Entwicklungszusammenarbeit Sina Fontana, Lorenz Lang Sina Fontana, Lorenz Lang 331–364
  - 365–392 Das Leiden anderer betrachten – Die digitale Vorführung von Kriegsgefangenen zwischen Propaganda und Kriegsverbrechen Clara Folger Clara Folger 365–392
- 393–418 Buchbesprechungen 393–418
  - 393–398 Talmon, Stefan: German Practice in International Law: 2019 Matthias Hartwig Matthias Hartwig 393–398
  - 399–406 Wouters, Jan (ed.): Legal Advisers in International Organizations Malcolm Jorgensen Malcolm Jorgensen 399–406
  - 407–410 Kosař, David / Petrov, Jan / Šipulová, Katarína / Smekal, Hubert / Vyhnánek, Ladislav / Janovský, Jozef: Domestic Judicial Treatment of European Court of Human Rights Case Law Nicola Wenzel Nicola Wenzel 407–410
  - 411–418 Tourme Jouannet, Emmanuelle: Le droit international, le capitalisme et la terre. Histoire des accaparements de terres d’hier à aujourd’hui Ademar Pozzatti Ademar Pozzatti 411–418
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Zeitschrift für ausländisches öffentliches Recht und Völkerrecht / Heidelberg Journal of International Law , page 281 - 306

Arminius Rex: On the Postcolonial Uses of Imperial Languages in, and beyond, International Law

Autoren

Daniel R. Quiroga-Villamarín

DOI
- doi.org/10.17104/0044-2348-2024-2-281
- ISSN: 0044-2348
- ISSN online: 2942-3562
Abstract

Despite its aspirational name, our discipline has slowly come to understand that ‘international’ law is anything but international. Increasingly, new waves of scholarship have dissected the famous image of the ‘invisible college’, revealing many of its implicit biases and hierarchies in terms of gender, race, or nationality. A promising example of this is the recent surge of interventions that question international law’s Anglo- or Franco-centric past, present, and future. This rising chorus of voices challenge the relevance of French or highlight the violence involved in making English a global lingua franca. While one can sympathise with this critique from a postcolonial perspective, I have grown increasingly wary that some of these contributions end up pleading for an essentialist understanding of local languages in their quest to undermine imperial tongues. Instead, in this essay, I draw from the Germano-Roman mythical figure of Arminius to reflect on the postcolonial uses of imperial languages. Instead of reclaiming the vernacular, I suggest that critical and postcolonial international legal scholars can strategically inherit the legacies of hegemonic languages for anticolonial purposes. Just as Arminius drew from Latin and Rome, the Négritude movement siphoned from French – and even Postcolonial Studies were themselves forged in the crucible of British rule over Egypt and India. We too, I argue, can attempt to use the master’s tools to dismantle his house, at least temporarily.
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