Conceptualizing Race and Resisting Racism in International Law

This chapter in Emancipating International Law: Confronting the Violence of Racialized Boundaries (Mohsen al Attar and Claire Smith, eds) explores the conceptualization of race and racism within international law (IL), as a way of understanding both the breadth and depth of its racism problem. Drawing attention to the global dimensions of structural racism, and the implication of the international architecture within it, the chapter discusses community building efforts among advocates and international legal scholars as one (limited) constellation of initiatives developing emancipatory strategies to address IL’s racemaking. In considering this work of resisting and reimagining IL, the chapter underscores the urgency of transforming global legal frameworks in concert with contemporaneous initiatives pursuing similar goals, to better address the systemic and transnational nature of racial injustice.