What is the problem/issue being addressed?
Ever since 1648, European international law has had at its core the formal recognition of states as sovereign and independent political units. Minority groups such as the Jews did not have a voice within the political and legal framework established at the treaty of Westphalia. As the ‘other within’, Jews were not central participants within the history of international legal discourse. So far, little to no research has been undertaken on the Jewish conceptions of international trade and criminal law. This Action entitled ‘A Jewish Contribution to the Historiography of International Law (JIL)’ will address the topic of anti-Jewishness in the history of international law. The aim of the project is to examine the international trade network of the 18th-century Portuguese Jewish community in Amsterdam in order to uncover its contributions to the history and development of international law. It will do so through an interdisciplinary and innovative approach in combining various disciplines and research methods: archival research, legal anthropology, case-studies analysis, rabbinic legal analysis, intellectual history, politics, Christian theology, material culture, and urban governance. The project offers to make a change in the historiography of international law by highlighting Jewish men and women who were active in international business in the 18th century. In bringing the relevant cases to the foreground, the researcher aims to open emancipatory space for other marginalized groups that participated in the periphery.
It is against this background that the project “A Jewish Contribution to the Historiography of International Law (JIL)” addresses the topic of anti-Jewishness in the history of international law. The aim of this project is to examine the international trade network of the eighteenth-century Portuguese Jewish community in Amsterdam in order to uncover its contributions to the history and development of international law. This research project offers to make a change in the historiography of international law by highlighting Jewish men and women who were active in international business in the eighteenth century.
Why is it important for society?
This research opens an emancipatory space for underrepresented groups in the historiography of international law.
What are the overall objectives?
The nature of the research project has the potential to solidify the researcher’s expertise and niche in international law. In adding the political science and urban studies element to his interdisciplinary approach, it will increase the readership and visibility of this research. After the fellowship, the researcher aims to secure a tenure-track professorship at a European university, where he will be able to teach courses in religious studies, anthropology, international law, history, or Jewish studies, and conduct research in the history of international law.
