Title: The Return of Colonial Cultural Objects and the Making of International Law: Meditations on Method

Time: 16:30-18:00 27 September 2024（9月27日下午4:30-6:00）

Venue: Hanying Building 5-3078（涵英楼5-3078）

In this talk, Professor Lucas Lixinski will discuss his recent work on claims for the return of cultural objects taken by European powers during colonial occupation. Focused on specific case studies, the talk will use this context to also explore the possibilities and limits of the ways in which we deploy different legal methods and tools to answer the dual questions of “whether” to return, and “how” to return cultural objects. The talk will compare legal positivism, the turn to history in international law, critical legal methods, and legal pragmatism as pathways to explore the types of legal argument we build in response to pressing historical and social issues.

Dr Lucas Lixinskiis Professor and Associate Dean (International) at the Faculty of Law & Justice, UNSW Sydney. He is also the Director of Studies globally for the International Law Association, the world’s oldest and largest learned society in the field. He is author of over 100 publications in his fields of expertise, and recipient of the American Society of International Law’s prestigious Certificate of Merit for his scholarly work. He sits on the editorial boards of multiple journals, including the European Court of Human Rights Law Review, and the International Journal of Cultural Property.