Critical Race Theory and the Law of the Sea: Bringing CRT ‘Offshore

We are delighted to bring a new publication by our legal associate, Amanda Danson Brown, to your attention.  

Her article Critical Race Theory and the Law of the Sea: Bringing CRT Offshore has been published in the peer-reviewed SOAS Journal of Postgraduate Research.  

Download it here: https://soas-repository.worktribe.com/output/874320/critical-race-theory-and-the-law-of-the-sea-bringing-crt-offshore 

Amanda observes that while critical scholars have increasingly encouraged bringing Critical Race Theory (CRT) approaches into international law, this expansion has largely stopped at the shoreline; the international law of the sea (ILOS) remains conspicuously absent from this global turn. Yet leaving the sea outside CRT’s global scope overlooks one of the most consequential sites of racial governance and ignores the distinctive ways in which racial subordination persists across the seas, which cover more than 70% of the world’s surface. To holistically confront racial hierarchies, she argues, we must also address the legal frameworks that sustain them at sea. 

In one of the earliest calls to expand CRT beyond the U.S., Penelope E. Andrews asked, “How does CRT go offshore?”, referring to its application to international legal frameworks and the global stage. Amanda’s article builds upon this, asking, what it would mean to take CRT truly offshore - out to sea? 

The article issues a call for placing CRT on the agenda of the ILOS, and the sea on the agenda of CRT, bringing the two fields into dialogue to expose how violence and inequality are normalised and obscured in maritime governance. It underscores how race can shape powers and protections under ILOS, and highlights how the sea’s distinct physical and legal characteristics can pose unique challenges for accountability. Offering a starting point for the conversation, the article proposes two illustrative sites where CRT may offer valuable insights into ILOS frameworks: the search and rescue regime and the flags of convenience system. Ultimately, it argues that race distinctly shapes experiences at sea in ways compounded by, but not reducible to, other forces such as empire and capitalism. 

Within the Journal volume’s theme of ‘Resistance’, the article invites scholars of critical legal theory and the law of the sea to join together in critical resistance and challenge the global legal architectures that sustain racial subordination. 

Amanda Danson Brown is a public international lawyer, doctoral researcher at SOAS School of Law, and Legal Advisor at The Promise Institute for Human Rights at UCLA (Europe). She is a UCLA Law JD ’20 graduate with degree specializations in Critical Race Studies, International and Comparative Law and Policy, and Public Interest Law and Policy.