Book presentation by the author , Sara DEZALAY, Université catholique de Lille - ESPOL
Book description
Lawyering Imperial Encounters revisits the relationship between the African continent and global capitalism since the 19th century Scramble. Focused on sites of imperial encounters – in London, Paris, Abidjan, Bujumbura, Kinshasa, Johannesburg or the Hague, it provides an unprecedented account of the correlation between the legacy of legal imperialism and British hegemony, and the uneven and unequal expansion of finance and global justice in the current rush for Africa's 'green' minerals. Tracking the role played by legal intermediaries to negotiate and justify Africa's practical and symbolic subaltern position in the global economy, it demonstrates the interconnectedness between political, legal and economic change in capitalism's cores and its so-called peripheries. Embracing the global turn in sociology, history and legal scholarship, it rubs against the functionalist account of global value chains as engines of development. It also constitutes a powerful postcolonial critique of law's double-bind - as both enabler and bulwark against domination.
Bio
Sara Dezalay is Professor of International Law and International Relations at ESPOL and Pedagogical Head of the Master's International and Security Politics. She holds a PhD in Law from the European University Institute and a Habilitation à diriger des recherches (HDR) in Political Science from the Université Panthéon-Sorbonne Paris I.
Sara Dezalay's research revisits the long history of extraction between the African continent and global capitalism since the 19th-century scramble for Africa. Focusing on sites of imperial encounters—in London, Paris, Abidjan, Bujumbura, Kinshasa, Johannesburg, and The Hague—her latest monograph, Lawyering Imperial Encounters. Negotiating Africa's Relationship with the World Economy (Cambridge University Press, 2024), shows how legal intermediaries negotiate and justify Africa's subordinate position in the global economy. She demonstrates the symbiosis between the legacy of imperialism and the detrimental societal and environmental impact of the current rush for Africa's “green” minerals. Her work, reviewed in the Law & Society Review, offers a powerful postcolonial critique of the double bind of law, both an instrument of facilitation and a bulwark against predation.
Chair: Isaline Bergamaschi, Université libre de Bruxelles
Friday, December 5th, 2025 | 2-4 pm
REPI - Université libre de Bruxelles (IEE, Geremek room)
39 Avenue Franklin Roosevelt, 1050 Bruxelles
Registration:
https://forms.office.com/e/HvdezF2uXa?origin=lprLink
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