Abstract:
The colonial encounter largely shaped the African continent and Kenya was no
exception. In Kenya, formal western education was introduced by the missionaries
as part of the civilising mission and continued to evolve in the post-colonial state
with the establishment of universities offering legal programs. Core in the curricula
of these law undergraduate and postgraduate programs are international law
courses such as public international law, international criminal law, international
commercial law, international trade law, inter alia. The objective of offering
international law courses is to enable students to appreciate traditional aspects of
international law as well as modern aspects such as globalization and their
relevance in today’s world. However, international law is mainly taught from a
European perspective with the bulk of the textbooks utilized in these law
programs written by European scholars. The literature used and the pedagogy
adopted in the teaching of international law remains rife with exclusions and
distortions of indigenous knowledge, voices, critiques and scholars. This article
analyzes the potential of decolonizing the approach to the teaching of
international law that is prevalent in law schools in Kenya. This article will analyze
the mainstream narrative that is taught in the international law curricula and why
it is problematic. Through the lens of Third World Approaches to International
Law (TWAIL), this article argues for the teaching of international law in a manner
which allows students to critically engage with its doctrines. This article will analyze
the TWAIL theory of law and the potential for its incorporation into the teaching
of international law with the aim of understanding the exclusions of the African
perspective. The author will analyze why the use of TWAIL can aid in
deconstructing western narratives and incorporate indigenous viewpoints into the
classroom with the aim of decolonization. The author concludes by reflecting on
third world visions of international law which can be integrated into the law
curricula in Kenya and its wider implications for the study of international law
going forward.
