Dr Ahmed Memon

Publication

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Research

My expertise lies in decolonial theory/practice and its intersections with international law, global governance and legal history. I am particularly interested in how coloniality is produced and the 'space' it makes, i.e., the 'geographies' it creates such as institutions, committees, transnational networks, organisations and its reproduction in the state-form.  My work therefore takes inspiration from Black Radical thinking on geography and space, Indigenous thought and decolonial theory/practice across different contexts.  

My first project, currently being developed as a manuscript, Assemblages of Coloniality : Violence in the Making of the international legal order, unpacks the making of international legal organisation, nation-state and transnational governance as an assemblage of coloniality. It draws inspiration from decolonial theory, black radical geography and indigenous thinking to show how international legal order is not merely about 'exclusion' but about the creation of spaces that are engendered by coloniality through actors, processes and structures. 

My second and ongoing project develops an anti-caste theory of law by connecting it to decolonial thought and practice, focusing on the making of the Indus River as an object of caste oppressive mythologies and how that intersected and overlapped with the racialised legal order of the 19th Century in the sub-continent. This project in particular develops three fundamental strands; firstly, understanding caste oppression as a form of coloniality, secondly, that this coloniality is reproduced through the mythologization of nature that overlaps with racialisation of humans, and lastly, climate catastrophe within the sub-continent needs to be understood through the creation of 'nature' through caste myths, which reproduces a caste-social order in India and Pakistan.

Other research activities: 

I am a co-host and co-producer of the Critical International Law podcast 'Fool's Utopia' based at Centre for Critical International Law where I am a research associate. You can follow the podcast on Spotify and Soundcloud.

I am also an editor and founding member of Decolonial Dialogue, a platform managed by researchers across UK universities to advance cross-disciplinary conversations on Decolonial Methodologies. I lead a series on Pakistan and Decoloniality on the platform which includes blog reflections, interviews with Pakistani Scholars and current work on Pakistan with a decolonial aspect and event organisation with collaborators from Pakistan. 

Teaching

Teaching Experience and Interest:

I teach Public Law and Global Problems and Legal Theory at Cardiff Law School. I have experience teaching Critical Approaches to Law and Foundations to Property at Kent Law School. I have also taught International Law and International Human Rights Law at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels at Glasgow Law School. 

Decolonisation in University:

I employ an anti-racist and anti-sexist ethic in my teaching. I have been part of collectives and projects that have pushed on decolonising HE and University through student-staff collaborations. I am currently leading workshops on Decolonisation in Cardiff and I would be more than happy to converse with students and other scholars/staff interested in collaborations or reflections on decolonising HE.  I am also a member of the EDI committee at the Law and Politics Department at Cardiff University.

Biography

I completed my undergraduate studies in Pakistan following which I worked as a Lawyer with a focus on IP,Taxation and Commerical Law for two years. I completed my Masters in International Law at Kent Law School as a scholarship holder, following which I received the Vice Chancellors Scholarship to pursue my Doctoral Studies at Kent Law School. 

Since then, I have worked as an associate Lecturer at Kent Law School for 5 years, followed by a short Lecturership at Glasgow Law School before joining Cardiff. 

Supervisions

I am available to supervise scholars interested in 

Methodologically :

• Third World Approaches to International Law, Postcolonial and Decolonial Approaches
• Sociological approaches to International Law, anthropological approaches
• Plural, diverse and alternate approaches and conceptions of international legal norms. 

Substantively, I can cover supervising in the following areas: 

• International Legal history; Global governance histories 
• International humanitarian law, use of force 
• Norms of Nation-State, Sovereignty and territory, distinction between war and peace.
• Race/race-making and International Law, religion and international law , caste and gender in international law
• Law and Development

I am also happy to have a conversation if your proposal doesn't cover the substantive areas but engages with the methodological approaches mentioned. 

Current supervision

Zaman Akhter

Research student