Mainstream comparative law has typically described the Global South as a mimetic legal context. From this orthodox perspective, the Global South is a space structured around the reproduction of original legal instruments constructed in the Global North. The legal orders of the Global South have been structured and transformed by unidirectional legal transplants that have travelled from the Global North to the Global South. Consequently, this perspective has seen the Global South as a weak space for the construction of legal knowledge. This is an inaccurate and incomplete interpretation of the processes of articulation and transformation of law in the Global South. Legal transplants have certainly been a common source of legal production in this conceptual geography. However, processes of legal innovation, hybridization, and adaptation have also been relevant sources of lawmaking in the legal systems of this conceptual geography.
This conference aims to examine poietic legal processes in the Global South. The event, which will be built on a dialogue between scholars from the Global North and the Global South, will have constitutional law as its primary object of study; it will examine other fields of law only insofar as they interact robustly with constitutional law. To achieve its goal, the conference will be organized around three panels. The first panel will focus on processes of constitutional innovation; the second on processes of constitutional hybridization; and the third on processes of constitutional adaptation. Each panel will include one scholar from the Global North and two from the Global South. The panelists will be prominent constitutional scholars from Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, and the United States.
Speakers:
- Adem Adebe | International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (Sweden – Ethiopia)
- Arun Thiruvengadam | National Law School of India University (India)
- Cathi Albertyn | Wits University Law School (South Africa)
- Daniel Bonilla | Universidad de los Andes School of Law (Colombia)
- Fupeng Li | University of Political Science and Law (China)
- Jaclyn Neo | National University of Singapore (Singapore)
- Laura Betancur | Universidad de los Andes School of Law (Colombia)
- Lena Salaymeh | École Pratique des Hautes Études (France)
- Manuel Iturralde | Universidad de los Andes School of Law (Colombia)
- Mariana Castrellón | Universidad de los Andes School of Law (Colombia)
- Michel Rosenfeld | Cardozo Law School (USA)
- Susanna Mancini | Bologna University School of Law (Italy)
- Thomas Duve | Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory (Germany)
