This book relationship between the African continent and global capitalism since the 19th century Scramble by the colonial powers, exploring the role of law and legal intermediaries in perpetuating inequal relationship with the continent within the framework of mineral extraction.
New book out! Lawyering Imperial Encounters. Negotiating Africa’s Relationship with the World Economy
Book published online in December 2024
Our esteemed colleague Sara Dezalay published with Cambridge University Press her latest book, stemming from her research work within the framework of her professorial thesis (habilitation à diriger des recherches), entitled Lawyering Imperial Encounters. Negotiating Africa’s Relationship with the World Economy. It was published online first in December 2024 and will be available in print in 2025.
This book relationship between the African continent and global capitalism since the 19th century Scramble by the colonial powers. 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, the book 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.
