Futurism: Neglected Histories of International Law

Abstract This contribution proposes to unearth, scrutinise, and possibly disrupt futuristic moves in international law. Existing scholarship has demonstrated that the narrative technology of historicisation in international legal scholarship typically adheres to a linear and unidirectional temporality. This sequence, it is argued here, progresses not solely from the past to the present but also extends from the past and present towards the future. This significant step has been overlooked thus far. The article demonstrates that futuristic moves in international law not only fit within the linear and unidirectional approaches to time and international law but are also intimately linked with a celebration of human agency and of international lawyers’ capacity to act upon and fix future crises. Futuristic moves, however, are not solely future-oriented as they might appear. They are, the article shows, a narrative technology to govern the present. This narrative technology, to date, has mainly perpetuated existing power structures and historical modes and modalities of domination and oppression. The article suggests that inspiration is to be found in Afrofuturist movements as a source for counternarratives to disrupt the current use of futurism as a narrative technology of continuity, governance and oppression.