MPHF: Ways of Worldmaking

This project explores Southern ideas of decolonization and the role of international law and institutions in advancing that goal, via a focus on Southern (re)imaginations of global ocean governance. The ocean is remarkably overlooked in studies of decolonization and international law, not only with respect to Southern, but also Northern perspectives, even though it has been a most fertile context for ideation on these themes. Studying how Southern actors engage with the legal construction of maritime borders, ocean depths and bottoms, resources and commons, marine infrastructures and techno-utopian imaginaries, the project also develops insights on how to study Southern intellection. It recognises that much such intellection takes place in practical contexts, as the work of collectives, and that the South is a heterogenous place with rich knowledge politics, progressive as well as reactionary currents, and contestations about present and future. Showcasing and analysing the plural and heterodox modes of Southern oceanic worldmaking, the project fosters rigorous engagement with Southern ideas in context and excavates the possibilities for today.