About the lecture

 A little over a century ago, amidst a bloody war rooted in European colonial rivalry and in the aftermath of the first genocide of the twentieth century committed against the Ovaherero and Nama peoples, WEB DuBois rejected the inevitable moves to exceptionalize the present—and ultimately redeem whiteness and the ‘West’ —declaring: “As we see the dead dimly through rifts of battle smoke and hear faintly the cursing and accusations of blood brothers, we darker men say: This is not Europe gone mad; this is not aberration nor insanity; this is Europe; this seeming terrible is the real soul of white culture—back of all culture, stripped and visible today”. Today, amidst another genocide carried out in the name of ‘Western civilization’, the words of DuBois ring true once more: this is not the West gone mad, nor aberration or insanity; this is the White World. This is also the White World’s international law. This lecture will consider what Black International thought of and about the past might teach us about the present - a time of “unprecedented” crisis, rupture and genocide - and warn us about the future.  

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Christopher Gevers is an Associate Professor at Wits School of Law and the Director of the Centre for Applied Legal Studies (CALS). His research focuses on Black Internationalism, Third World Approaches to International Law, Critical Race Theory, and Law & Literature. He has held visiting Fellowships at the University of Cambridge, the University of Oxford and Harvard Law School, and is the Editor-in-Chief of the South African Journal on Human Rights. As a practitioner, Christopher has been involved in litigation before domestic, regional and international courts, including the International Court of Justice.

MODERATOR

Davidzo Dhumbura, Geneva Graduate Institute

This lecture is co-hosted by the Albert Hirschman Centre On Democracy and the International Law Department.