Foluke Adebisi’s Publications
A list of my published materials in chronologically descending order. Do let me know if there is anything you are unable to access. I have…
African Skies
A list of my published materials in chronologically descending order. Do let me know if there is anything you are unable to access. I have put a link to publications that have accompanying blog posts on this site.
2023
My forthcoming book is available for pre-order from Bristol University Press:
In it I argue that the histories of racialised enslavement and extractive colonisation have had a profound effect on the fundamentals of the legal knowledge that we teach, research and practise. In response, the decolonisation movement, gives us an option for imagining together, new ways of thinking, being and doing in the world, to avert global injustice, deprivation and climate disaster.
2022
In What Is Legal Education For?: Re-Assessing the Purposes of Early Twenty-First Century Learning and Law Schools, pp. 85–110. Routledge, 2022.
This chapter argues that law schools have a responsibility to educate students on racialisation and coloniality as both continue to influence knowledge construction as well as laws, policy making and enforcement (including legal practitioners’ interactions with people of colour).
2021
Adebisi, Foluke. “Law, Race and Development.” In De Feyter, Koen, Gamze E. Türkelli, and Stéphanie de Moerloose, eds. Encyclopedia of Law and Development. Edward Elgar Publishing, 2021. pp. 177–180.
In this entry, I explore how a critical examination of the nexus between the three [i.e. law, race, and development] uncovers how they co-constitute each other, sometimes in negative ways. It is important, however, to begin any examination with an understanding that ‘race’ is not a legitimate scientific categorisation of humanity — neutral or objective. Development policy should take into account the history of race when determining the future of development. Accompanying blog post
In Adebisi, F. I. & Jivraj, S., , in Cowan, Dave, and Ann Mumford, eds. Pandemic Legalities: Legal Responses to COVID-19-Justice and Social Responsibility. Policy Press, 2021.
In this chapter, we extend this reflection to the profession of the authors of this book: legal education. As a starting point, it is clear that justice is not available for everyone: from police brutality and deaths in custody against Black lives and those of indigenous and other people of colour across the globe including in (former) colonial centres like the UK; to the sheer negligent disregard which led to the burning of Grenfell Tower; to standing by as people fleeing persecution drown in the waters that surround us.
Abdulrahman, Hadiza Kere, Foluke Ifejola Adebisi, Zibah Nwako, and Elizabeth Walton. “Revisiting (inclusive) education in the postcolony.” Journal of the British Academy 9 (2021): 47–75.
This article uses a dialogic approach to explore the complex state of education in the postcolony. It revisits the subject of educational inclusion (and exclusion) and interrogates different epistemological and systemic framings of what constitutes education and knowledge, and the effects that these have on the postcolonial educational landscape.
Series 2 Vol. 2 Amicus Curiae (2020): 428.
This article argues that there is a need for more transdisciplinary and decolonial approaches to knowledge production in law. These approaches need to go beyond a focus on diversity which only seeks ways for marginal voices and experiences to be absorbed into a hierarchized structure of knowledge production that in turn [re]produces a hierarchized world. Accompanying blog post
2020
The Law Teacher, October 2020, Taylor & Francis
On the 13th of September 2019, I convened at the Law School, University of Bristol, a conference titled, ‘Decolonisation and the Law School.’ The purpose of the conference was to bring together some of the vast array of work legal academics across the UK were doing with reference to decolonial thought, in particular how they were bringing this work into their teaching and their research. This editorial gives some context to the special issue. Accompanying blog post
Adebisi, F., , In: Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly. 67, 4, p. 433–451 .
Using theories of deconstructive postcolonialism, this article examines Africa’s education narrative and suggests a critical Freirian approach for decolonising education in Africa. This article contends that undecolonised education results in epistemic violence/injustice and is thus pedagogically and ethically unsound — violating the right to education. Accompanying blog post
Ipinyomi, F., , In: African Journal of International and Comparative Law
This review explores the overall themes that are examined in the book — the invisibility, objectification, exclusion and exploitation of black women. Of special note are the stories of Baartman and Truganini, poignant examples of black women who were failed by justice. Law. 24, 1, p. 168–172
Ipinyomi, F., , In: International Community Law Review. 18, 1, p. 3–33
In this article I argue that the international community is defined as a unitary actor that is separate from post-colonial Africa. The effect of this is to relegate the African experience to a footnote in research. International law then goes ahead to prescribe solutions for African problems which ignores African historicity, philosophy and values. This results in an international community that is not sufficiently communal and a disregard for international law. Accompanying blog post
Ipinyomi, F. I., , In: Journal of Academic Perspectives. 2015, 4, p. 1–21
This paper questions the generational hierarchy of human rights, and the contextual classification of RtE as an ESC right. The violators of RtE who are non-state, as well as the content and benefits of the right, make this classification questionable. The international human rights law (IHRL) indicators of RtE therefore become redundant. This paper argues for an approach that focuses on vulnerable groups and de-emphasises generationalisation of human rights and unproven preconceptions of international relations. Accompanying blog post
Ipinyomi, F. I., , In: NIALS Journal of Law and Gender.
This article uses the tension between cultural relativism and universal human rights to illustrate why rhetoric in language is detrimental to human rights protection and explores ways on resolving the tension by eschewing presupposed standpoints and objectively. The basics of both sides of the debate have to be engaged with at a community level. Accompanying blog post
Ipinyomi, F. I., , In: International Journal of Criminology and Sociological Theory. 6, 4, p. 191- 203
This article aims to examine the responsibility to prevent by dissecting the component crimes of R2P and their prevention, examining prevention through the overarching lens of disciplines in international law and the various practicalities that impede prevention.
Ipinyomi, F. I., , In: Journal of African Law. p. 151–174 23
This article examines the post-election crisis in Côte d’Ivoire [also known as Ivory Coast] that occurred between 2010 and 2011. In it, I argue that the international community should be more focussed on promoting democratic principles rather than the form or structure of democracy. Any other course of action could result in violent conflict and human rights violations. Unfortunately, the Responsibility to Protect [R2P] has been used as an argument for military intervention rather than prevention of violence. I argue here that the spirit of R2P speaks more about peace than violence. The international community should therefore be more prepared for peace than war.
Originally published at https://folukeafrica.com on October 27, 2022.
In hope. In love. In solidarity. In Power. Forever