Illiterate: An International Law Podcast with Aman Kumar

About Illiterate: An International Law Podcast with Aman Kumar

A free flowing discussion with area experts on international law, human rights, legal history. For more content, visit allaboutil.wordpress.com.

Publisher

Aman Kumar

Category

education

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

3 Apr 2022

Latest episode

25 Sept 2025

Latest episodes

19 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   25 Sept 2025

   Establishment of the ILC with Keri van Douwen

   In this episode, Keri van Douwen talks about her paper on the process and deliberations for establishing the International Law Commission. Our discussion is based on Keri's paper published in the Leiden Journal of International Law. Keri van Douwen, "Seventeen Men at Lake Success: In Search of the International Law Commission (https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/leiden-journal-of-international-law/article/seventeen-men-at-lake-success-in-search-of-the-international-law-commission/68E38B28FFDFF4BF58FC95DC0BA3EE33)", Leiden Journal of International Law, Vol. 37, Issue 3 (2024), 557–579.

2. 

   22 Aug 2024

   Caste, Slavery and International Law

   In this episode, we discuss criminalization of tribes through legislations in colonial India. We also discuss how the British colonisers deliberately kept Caste away from any international discussion about abolition of slavery. Ahmed Memon, ⁠⁠‘English in taste, Indian in blood’: caste hegemony in the making of British international legal thought⁠⁠ (https://academic.oup.com/lril/article/12/1/23/7634334), London Review of International Law, (2024), Volume 12, Issue 1, pp. 23–45 Rupa Viswanath, "The Pariah Problem: Caste, Religion, and the Social in Modern India (https://cup.columbia.edu/book/the-pariah-problem/9780231163064)", Columbia University Press (2014)

3. 

   10 Aug 2024

   Sanskrit, Aryan Invasion Theory and International Law

   In this episode, we discuss the influence of Sanskrit on the British imperial thoughts on international law. We talk about the Aryan Invasion theory and how the Britishers used it to perpetuate their ideology of racial superiority in India. Ahmed Memon, ⁠‘English in taste, Indian in blood’: caste hegemony in the making of British international legal thought⁠ (https://academic.oup.com/lril/article/12/1/23/7634334), London Review of International Law, (2024), Volume 12, Issue 1, pp. 23–45

4. 

   31 Jul 2024

   Caste of International Law with Ahmed Memon

   This is part one of a three-part series where I discuss Ahmed Memon's research on case and its role in the formation of international law. In this episode, Ahmed talks about: his lived experience and their role in his research, the need to differentiate between Caste and Tribe within the rubrics of international law, how his research on 'Tribes' is different from Fourth World Approaches to International Law, and Adivasi theory of double colonialism. Ahmed Memon, ‘English in taste, Indian in blood’: caste hegemony in the making of British international legal thought (https://academic.oup.com/lril/article/12/1/23/7634334), London Review of International Law, (2024), Volume 12, Issue 1, pp. 23–45 Other works mentioned in this episode: Mohammad Shahabuddin, "Minorities and the Making of Postcolonial States in International Law (https://www.cambridge.org/gb/universitypress/subjects/law/public-international-law/minorities-and-making-postcolonial-states-international-law?format=HB)", (Cambridge University Press 2021). Srinivas Burra, TWAIL's Others: A Caste Critique of TWAILers and their filed of Analysis (https://wyaj.uwindsor.ca/index.php/wyaj/article/view/4892), Windsor Yearbook of Access to Justice, 33 (2016). Virginius Xaxa, State, Society, and Tribes: Issues in Post-Colonial India (https://books.google.com.au/books/about/State_Society_and_Tribes.html?id=6_fBw2rubkAC&redir_esc=y) (Pearson Education India 2008). Raile Rocky Ziipao, "Infrastructure of Injustice: State and Politics in Manipur and Northeast India (https://www.routledge.com/Infrastructure-of-Injustice-State-and-Politics-in-Manipur-and-Northeast-India/RockyZiipao/p/book/9780367493585)", (Routledge India 2020).

5. 

   8 Jun 2024

   मालवा की रानी सिसोदनी और उनके द्वारा सिंधिया के आधिपत्य की अस्वीकृति (Queen Sisodini of Malwa and her rejection of suzerainty of Scindias)

   In the final part of our dicussion on the Princely State of Gwalior, Shashank Singh talks about the struggle for control over the Rajputs of Malwa, between the Scindias and the British. Shashank tells us how Rani Sisodini claimed that her people were under the British and not under the Scindias, although, eventually, her empire was merged with the Scindias.

6. 

   6 Jun 2024

   सिंधिया और 'मुस्लिम आरक्षण' एवं 'राष्ट्रवाद का दमन'

   In this second part of our discussion on the Princely State of Gwalior, we talk about how the Scindias managed the emerging tide of nationalism in pre-independence India. We also talk about how Scindias gave 33% reservation to muslims in Gwalior and how, after independence, they joined hands with Hindu organisations to continue their hold over power.

7. 

   30 May 2024

   ग्वालियर रियासत के सिंधिया: राजनीति, अकाल और अशिक्षा (Scindias of Princely State of Gwalior: Politics, Famine and Illiteracy)

   In this episode, we discuss Shashank Singh's PhD research, done at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, on the Princely State of Gwalior between 1860-1975. This a three-part episode. In this first part, Shashank talks about how the Scindia's hid famine and illiteracy behind the veil of 'progress' in Gwalior. In Part II, we discuss how the Scindias played a balancing act by aligning with the British, the Hindu Mahasabha and the Indian National Congress, at different time to continue their hold on power. In Part III, we will discuss the tripartite struggle over jurisdiction between the Scindias, the British and the Rajputs of Malwa.

8. 

   12 Apr 2024

   On Teaching International Law in India with Swati Singh Parmar

   In this episode, Prof. Swati Singh Parmar talks about her experiences of teaching international law in Geographical South. She highlights the structural problems of being a researcher of international law in a third world country, and suggests avenues of further research in the filed. In particular we discuss Swati's 2023 paper on the subject. Paper discussed in the episode: Swati S. Parmar, An Anticolonial Dream against the Disaffection and Dissonance: Teaching the (Other) International Law in India (https://scholarhub.ui.ac.id/ijil/vol20/iss2/4/), 20(2), Indonesian Journal of International Law, 2023. Papers mentioned in the episode: Michelle Staggs Kelsall, Disordering International Law (https://academic.oup.com/ejil/article/33/3/729/6770704), 33(3), European Journal of International Law, 2022. R. P. Dhokalia,The Teaching of International Law and International Institutions in Indian Universities (https://www.jstor.org/stable/43950280), 13(3), Journal of the Indian Law Institute, 1971. B. S. Chimni, Teaching, Research and Promotion of International Law in India: Past, Present and Future (https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228811412_Teaching_Research_and_Promotion_of_International_Law_in_India_Past_Present_and_Future), 5, Singapore Journal of International and Comparative Law, 2001. Srinivas Burra, Teaching Critical International Law: Reflections from the Periphery (https://twailr.com/teaching-critical-international-law-reflections-from-the-periphery/), TWAILR Reflections, 12 March 2021. Andrea Bianchi, International Law Theories: An Inquiry into Different Ways of Thinking (https://global.oup.com/academic/product/international-law-theories-9780198725121?cc=au&lang=en&), OUP, 2016. Anne Orford and Florian Hoffmann (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of the Theory of International Law (https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-oxford-handbook-of-the-theory-of-international-law-9780198701958?cc=au&lang=en&), OUP, 2016.

9. 

   12 Mar 2024

   Dr Priya Urs on Erga Omnes Obligations

   In this episode, Dr Priya Urs talks about Erga Omnes obligations. We discuss, in particular, her 2021 paper in the Leiden Journal of International Law on the issue, which was cited by the International Court of Justice. We take stock of the ongoing cases instituted by South Africa and Nicaragua, regarding the ongoing genocide of the Palestinians in Gaza. We also talk about Priya's latest book - Gravity at the International Criminal Court Admissibility and Prosecutorial Discretion, published by the Oxford University Press. Priya Urs, Obligations erga omnes and the question of standing before the International Court of Justice, Leiden Journal of International Law, 2021, 34(2), pp. 505-525. Priya Urs, "Gravity at the International Criminal Court: Admissibility and Prosecutorial Discretion", Oxford University Press, 2024.

10. 

    15 Feb 2024

    Prof. Arudra Burra on 'Colonial Laws'

    Hello and Welcome to another episode of IL-Literate: An International Law Podcast. I am your host, Aman Kumar. This is the sixth episode in our Law and History series. I sit down with Dr. Arudra Burra, who is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, to discuss the meaning of "colonial laws". We discuss his ideas on "colonial continuity" presented in two of his papers. The Cobwebs of Imperial Rule (https://web.iitd.ac.in/~burra/research/burra10cobwebs-of-imperial-rule-seminar-final.pdf), Seminar, 2010 What is "Colonial" about Colonial Laws? (https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/235410229.pdf), American University International Law Review, 2016 Other papers mentioned: Rohit De, Emasculating the Executive: The Federal Court and Civil Liberties in Late Colonial India: 1942–1944 (https://www.researchgate.net/publication/242549081_Emasculating_the_executive_The_federal_court_and_civil_liberties_in_late_colonial_India_1942-1944), in Halliday TC, Karpik L, Feeley MM, eds., Fates of Political Liberalism in the British Post-Colony: The Politics of the Legal Complex, CUP, 2012

11. 

    17 Jan 2024

    South Africa-Israel Genocide Case at the ICJ

    Hello and welcome to another episode of IL-Literate: An International Law Podcast. I am your host – Aman Kumar. The latest development in the ongoing armed conflict between Hamas and Israel, on the Palestinian territory, is the case filed by South Africa against Israel, at the International Court of Justice. In this episode of IL-Literate, I discuss the arguments made by both the sides during the hearings on 11th and 12 of January 2024.

12. 

    3 Jun 2023

    Dr Priyasha Saksena on Sovereignty of the Princely States of Colonial South Asia

    In this episode, Dr Priyasha Saksena talks about her transition from a corporate lawyer into a legal historian of the colonial South Asia. We discuss two of her pieces on the topic and also discuss her upcoming book - Sovereignty, International Law, and the Princely States of Colonial South Asia (Oxford University Press). Dr Priyasha Saksena's profile: https://essl.leeds.ac.uk/law/staff/1090/dr-priyasha-saksena Papers discussed in the interview: Saksena, P. (2020). Building the Nation: Sovereignty and International Law in the Decolonisation of South Asia, Journal of the History of International Law / Revue d'histoire du droit international, 23(1), pp. 52-79 Saksena, P. (2020), Jousting Over Jurisdiction: Sovereignty and International Law in Late Nineteenth-Century South Asia, Law and History Review, Cambridge University Press, 38(2), pp. 409–457

13. 

    3 May 2023

    Prof. Kevin Jon Heller on Putin's arrest warrant by the ICC

    In this episode, I sit down with Prof. Kevin Jon Heller, who is currently a Professor of International Law and Security at the University of Copenhagen’s Centre for Military Studies. He also serves as Special Advisor to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court for International Criminal Law Discourse. We discuss the arrest warrant (https://www.icc-cpi.int/news/situation-ukraine-icc-judges-issue-arrest-warrants-against-vladimir-vladimirovich-putin-and) issued by the Pre-trial Chamber – II of the ICC, on 17 March 2023, against Mr. Vladamir Putin, President of the Russian Federation and Ms Maria Lvova-Belova, Commissioner for Children’s Rights in the Office of the President of the Russian Federation. Among other things, we discuss the child-centric nature of charges, the possibility of Putin getting arrested and the feasibility of war criminals being tried before a special tribunal. Papers mentioned in the interview: Geir Ulfstein, "Farewell to Compulsory Jurisdiction (https://academic.oup.com/bybil/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/bybil/brad003/7111251)", British Yearbook of International Law, 2023, https://doi.org/10.1093/bybil/brad003 Tom Dannenbaum, "Accountability for Aggression: Atrocity, Attributability, the Legal Order, and Sanitized Violence (https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=view_citation&hl=en&user=KGysaxgAAAAJ&sortby=pubdate&citation_for_view=KGysaxgAAAAJ:tkaPQYYpVKoC)", Maryland Journal of International Law (forthcoming, 2023)

14. 

    10 Nov 2022

    On Scholactivism with Prof. Tarunabh Khaitan - Part II

    In this episode, I sit down with Prof. Tarunabh Khaitan (Oxford) to discuss his latest piece, a Guest Editorial, published in the International Journal of Constitutional Law. In his piece, Prof. Tarunabh elaborates upon his arguments about the dangers of a scholar doing activism through his/her writings. This is Part II of our discussion where Prof. Tarunabh deals with the published criticism of his ideas. Tarunabh Khaitan, "On scholactivism in constitutional studies: Skeptical thoughts", International Journal of Constitutional Law, 2022, moac039; available at https://academic.oup.com/icon/advance-article/doi/10.1093/icon/moac039/6658154 Liora Lazarus, Constitutional scholars and scholactivism, International Journal of Constitutional Law, Volume 20, Issue 2, April 2022, Pages 559–560; avaialable at https://academic.oup.com/icon/article-abstract/20/2/559/6673271 Thomas Bustamante, Reflecting on the ethical commitments of our role, International Journal of Constitutional Law, Volume 20, Issue 2, April 2022, Pages 557–558; available at https://academic.oup.com/icon/article-abstract/20/2/557/6658122

15. 

    3 Nov 2022

    On Scholactivism with Prof. Tarunabh Khaitan - Part I

    In this episode, I sit down with Prof. Tarunabh Khaitan (Oxford) to discuss his latest piece, a Guest Editorial, published in the International Journal of Constitutional Law. In his piece, Prof. Tarunabh elaborates upon his arguments about the dangers of a scholar doing activism through his/her writings. This is Part I of our discussion. Tarunabh Khaitan, "On scholactivism in constitutional studies: Skeptical thoughts", International Journal of Constitutional Law, 2022, moac039; available at https://academic.oup.com/icon/advance-article/doi/10.1093/icon/moac039/6658154

16. 

    3 Jul 2022

    Dr Kalyani Ramnath on 'Doing Archival Research'

    Dr Kalyani Ramnath talks about her journey from Kerala to NLSIU to Yale to Princeton to Harvard to Georgia. She talks about her research, which was focused on Madras and her upcoming works on the Bay of Bengal. Tune in to learn about Dr Kalyani's method of doing archival research, how she has focused on individuals. She talks about her interest in 'How the law travels' and about her focus on how individuals inject life in law. Dr Kalyani's works discussed in the podcast: Law and the Political Imaginary in Mid-Twentieth-Century Southern India Intertwined Itineraries: Debt, Decolonization, and International Law in Post-World War II South Asia Dr Kalyani's suggested readings: Aparna Balachandran, Rashmi Pant, and Bhavani Raman, Iterations of Law: Legal Histories from India, (Oxford University Press, 2018) Fahad Ahmad Bishara, A Sea of Debt Law and Economic Life in the Western Indian Ocean, 1780–1950, (Cambridge University Press, 2017) Cover Image from: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:High_Court,_Madras,_from_South.jpg

17. 

    3 Jun 2022

    Prof. Prabhakar Singh on writIng the history of International Law (शोध, लेखनी और जीवन: एक चर्चा प्रोफेसर प्रभाकर सिंह के साथ)

    Prof. (Dr) Prabhakar Singh talks about his journey from Darbhanga to Mumbai (via Bhopal, Barcelona, Singapore and Sonepat). In his first interview in hindi, he talks about his childhood days, his college days, his journeys abroad. We discuss his evolution into a prominent academic working on the history of international law and his groundbreaking work on Semi-colonialism. Works of Prof. Singh mentioned in the interview Power to the environment, Down to Earth, 30 November 2005 From ‘Narcissistic’Positive International Law to ‘Universal’Natural International Law: The Dialectics of ‘Absentee Colonialism’, African Journal of International and Comparative Law, March 2008, Vol. 16, No. 1, pp. 56-82 Indian Princely States and the 19th-century Transformation of the Law of Nations, Journal of International Dispute Settlement, Vol. 11, Issue 3, September 2020, pp. 365–387 Spinning Yarns From Moonbeams: A Jurisprudence of Statutory Interpretation in Common Law, Statute Law Review, Vol. 42, Issue 2, June 2021, pp. 266–290 The Crow-flight of The New York Times, The Bombay Review Works of other authors Antony Anghie, Finding the Peripheries: Sovereignty and Colonialism in Nineteenth Century International Law, Harvard International Law Journal, Vol. 40, Issue 1, 1999, pp. 1--80

18. 

    3 May 2022

    Dr Surabhi Ranganathan on Political Economy and Law of the Seas

    Dr Surabhi Ranganathan talks about the importance and relevance of doing history of law of the seas, political economy of the seas. She revisits her journey from NLSIU to NYU to Cambridge, where she is currently situated. She explains the turn in her research journey and discusses her upcoming works in the field of Law of the Seas. As a bonus, we also discuss about the art of getting published in academia. Dr Surabhi Ranganathan's profile - https://www.law.cam.ac.uk/people/academic/s-ranganathan/2998. Readings suggested by Dr. Surabhi Ranganathan: Surabhi Ranganathan, "Global Commons", European Journal of International Law, Volume 27, Issue 3, (2016), pp. 693–717. Surabhi Ranganathan, "Sea Change", in A. Brett, M. Donaldson, & M. Koskenniemi (Eds.), History, Politics, Law: Thinking through the International, pp. 285-308, Cambridge University Press, 2021. Papers discussed in this interview: Surabhi Ranganathan, "Decolonization and International Law: Putting the Ocean on the Map", Journal of the History of International Law / Revue d'histoire du droit international, Volume 23, Issue 1 (2020), pp. 161-183. Surabhi Ranganathan, "Ocean Floor Grab: International Law and the Making of an Extractive Imaginary", European Journal of International Law, Volume 30, Issue 2 (2019), pp. 573–600. Other Works mentioned in this interview: Surabhi Ranganathan, Strategically Created Treaty Conflicts and the Politics of International Law, 2014, Cambridge University Press. Surabhi Ranganathan, "Manganese Nodules", in Jessie Hohmann and Daniel Joyce (eds.), International Law's Objects, pp. 272-283, Oxford University Press, 2018. B. S. Chimni, "Law of the Sea: Imperialism All the Way", Economic and Political Weekly, Volume 17, Number 11 (Mar. 13, 1982), pp. 407-412. B. S. Chimni, "Law of the Sea: Winners Are Losers", Economic and Political Weekly, Volume 17, Number 24 (Jun. 12, 1982), pp. 987-992. R P Anand, Origin and Development of the Law of the Seas: History of International Law Revisited, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1983. C L R James, Beyond a Boundary (50th Anniversary Edition), Duke University Press, 2013.

19. 

    3 Apr 2022

    Dr Rohit De on Law and History

    Dr Rohit De talks about his journey from National Law School of India University (NLSIU) to Yale. A law graduate, Rohit is currently teaching History. In this episode, he talks about this switch from Law to History, about access to archives, about his upcoming book and much more. "A Peripatetic World Court” Cosmopolitan Courts, Nationalist Judges and the Indian Appeal to the Privy Council" Law and History Review 32, no. 04 (2014): 821-851. "Between midnight and republic: Theory and practice of India’s Dominion status", International Journal of Constitutional Law, Volume 17, Issue 4, October 2019, Pages 1213–1234. A People’s Constitution: Law and Everyday Life in the Indian Republic (Princeton University Press, 2018) Mitra Sharafi, "Law and Identity in Colonial South Asia: Parsi Legal Culture, 1772–1947" (Studies in Legal History), Cambridge University Press (2014).

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