Welcome to the Helsinki Summer Seminar 2022!

We are delighted to announce that the 33rd Helsinki Summer Seminar on Plurality at Last? Legal Internationalism beyond Eurocentrism and  Patriarchy organised by the Erik Castrén Institute and the Centre of Excellence in Law, Identity and the European Narratives (EuroStorie) will take place on 22 – 26 August 2022 at the Faculty of Law of the University of Helsinki.

International law has been challenged as a Eurocentric, white, masculine and elitist intellectual discipline and professional field. Today the forms of engagement in domestic, transnational and global legal frameworks are in a flux. 

The 33rd Summer Seminar examines on-going transformations of societies, law and the conditions of access and belonging to professional and intellectual communities. What happens when international/transnational/global law and ’lawyers’ become more plural and diverse? What new or alternative ideas, agendas and identities are surfacing? What roles could international/transnational norms and institutional practices have? How could past injustices be met responsibly? Are there regressive elements or structures that resist change? 

The seminar introduces students to the diverse, contested and competing scholarly ideas about the role, function and promises of law that have oftentimes remained invisible in teaching international law. The seminar aims to bring these approaches challenging eurocentrism and patriarchalism to the forefront of thinking of the past and future of international law. 

Confirmed list of speakers:

Leena Avonius (Crisis Managment Centre Finland)
Kolar Aparna (University of Helsinki/EuroStorie)
Miriam Bak McKenna (Roskilde University)
Hilary Charlesworth (International Court of Justice)
Christopher Gevers (UKZN School of Law)
Magdalena Kmak (Åbo Akademi)
Martti Koskenniemi (University of Helsinki/ECI)
Sari Kouvo (EEAS/University of Gothenburg)
Daria Krivonos (University of Helsinki/EuroStorie)
Jukka Könönen (University of Helsinki)
Ambassador Marja Lehto (Ministry of Forgein Affairs of Finland)
Parvathi Menon (University of Helsinki/ECI)
Lauri Mälksoo  (University of Tartu)
Johanna Niemi (University of Helsinki)
Pamela Slotte (Åbo Akademi/University of Helsinki/EuroStorie)
Immi Tallgren (University of Helsinki/ECI)
Reetta Toivanen (University of Helsinki/EuroStorie)
Kaius Tuori (University of Helsinki/EuroStorie).