CRI389Y0 Transnational Justice / Mapping Justice in Black Atlantic Worlds
The relationship between violence, law, and power has long defined the distinctiveness of Caribbean life. Central to this history is the paradigm shift brought about by new constitutional arrangements for addressing violence and crime, alongside everyday demands for reparations and decolonial approaches to legal and social transformation. In the study of law, Caribbean legal systems and conceptions of justice are deeply rooted in British and French jurisprudence, legacies of colonial rule that continue to shape post-independence social life. The enduring imprint of plantation economies further structures legal discourse, influencing not only judicial outcomes but also the reproduction of socioeconomic inequalities. These conditions place limits on the development of a distinctly Caribbean jurisprudence that might otherwise reflect the region’s lived realities and visions of justice.
This course examines the structural foundations of violence and the histories of colonial law that undergird Caribbean jurisprudence. It explores the erosion of parliamentary sovereignty and the emergence of new forms of public international and regional law. By situating Black Atlantic life within the context of the plantation—where violence was foundational and where its echoes resurface in contemporary discourses of “crime”—the course interrogates the dilemmas of this new phase of Caribbean existence. At the center of our inquiry is the question of political legitimacy: the recognition, as McIntosh notes, that Caribbean constitutions were “not really our own” (S. McIntosh, Caribbean Constitutional Reform: Rethinking the West Indian Polity, Kingston: Caribbean Law Publishing, 2002). This raises critical questions about how plantation-era economic systems persist in shaping present-day social life. Rather than viewing the absence of an explicit form of Caribbean jurisprudence as a void, the course reimagines them as spaces for innovation and reclamation. It engages with the structural violence and colonial legacies that have long marginalized Black justice strategies, while also proposing new ways of recognizing, documenting, and theorizing the Caribbean epistemologies now emerging.
Course format: The course will combine interactive lectures, field visits to justice institutions and community-based spaces of innovation, and student-led discussions. Each session will include a brief lecture to introduce key concepts, followed by dialogue and analysis of case studies from the Caribbean. Students will engage directly with prescribed readings and are expected to actively contribute to discussions, workshops, and collaborative activities. Site visits and experiential learning components will enhance classroom learning by providing real-world contexts. The best outcomes will depend on students’ consistent preparation and full participation throughout the course.
Prerequisites
TBA
Field Trips
Coming soon.
Instructor
Professor Kamari Maxine Clarke is a distinguished scholar with extensive expertise in sociolegal studies, international law, postcolonial justice, and decolonial methodologies. She has conducted fieldwork in the United States, West and East Africa, and the Caribbean, examining issues of legal pluralism, international law, colonial legacies, and community-based justice practices.
As a scholar, she has developed innovative, experiential learning programs that integrate academic seminars with field-based activities. For example, she led a course in The Hague (2018), directed a Summer School in Kigali, Rwanda (2022), developed a MemoLab in Toronto (2024), hosted a REP SummerLab in Cali, Colombia (2025) and is looking forward to. Her work bridges academic and community engagement, fostering collaborations with local scholars and legal practitioners, equipping students with critical tools to examine law, history, and power in the Caribbean context.