Westminster (Politics and International Relations) Conversations: Researching the International Politics of the Ocean: Colonialism, Resource Extraction and the view from the South

Date 1 October 2025
Time 5 - 7pm
Location 309 Regent Street
Cost Free

The speaker for this talk will be Professor Surabhi Ranganathan (University of Cambridge).

Speaker

Professor Surabhi Ranganathan (University of Cambridge)

Surabhi Ranganathan's current work traces the co-constitution of international law and the ocean from 1945 to now, unsettling what we take as the givens in relation to the spatial zones, resource allocations and functional jurisdictions effected by the law of the sea. It extends the history and critique of international law into new areas, such as ocean depths and bottoms, global commons, marine infrastructures, and techno-utopian imaginaries, and, from the underexplored vantage point of oceanic law-making, throws new light on current preoccupations of international legal histories: statehood and territory, decolonization and the new international economic order, the Cold War, race and empire, and the emergence of new legal forms and institutions.

About this series

The Westminster (Politics and International Relations) Conversations are a programme of (term-time) monthly events open to all, from new students to members of staff and external attendees. 

The format is relaxed and moves away from the formal lecture presentation. Leading academic experts explain in an accessible way the background and context to their argument or analysis as well as presenting their key findings. For example, they might discuss with the audience how they came to the research area, the major ideas and thinkers they work with and the issues at stake in their research. The talk and discussion will be followed by a reception to which everyone is invited. 

Please book your place on Eventbrite (via the link above).

Location

Fyvie Hall, Regent Street Campus, 309 Regent Street, London W1B 2HW