Abstract

CARVALHO VECOSO, Fabia Fernandes. History and critique in International Law in Latin America: Revisiting past discussions on legal education in the region. Rev. Derecho Estado [online]. 2017, n.39, pp.91-117. ISSN 0122-9893.  https://doi.org/10.18601/01229893.n39.05.

This contribution revisits the discussions undertaken between 1959 and 1974 during the holding of the five Conferences of Latin American Law Schools in our region. With no intention to present a comprehensive historical reconstruction of these meetings, this study aims at shedding light on past dialogues on legal education in Latin America. In a similar vein, this contribution will not discuss how effectively the recommendations reached at these meetings have changed the organization and the activities of Latin American law schools, but it will explore past interrogations on the role of law in political projects of transformation. The resumption of these discussions is important to support innovative reflections on international legal education in Latin America today because changes were proposed based on a Latin American sensibility, revealing the need to link political projects to pedagogical reform initiatives. Considering that historical studies in international law are necessarily anachronistic, as stated by Anne Orford in The past as law or history? The relevance of imperialism for modern international law, this contribution approaches the history of discussions on legal education in Latin America as a necessary effort related to the current interrogations articulated in the context of the project "Rethinking International Legal Education in Latin America" (REDIAL).

Keywords : Conferences of Latin American Law Schools; international legal education. Latin America; history of International Law; critical approaches.

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