Kairos: history of law and international relations, institutional memory and cultural policies

François Ost reminds us, in his "The Time of Law," that the Greeks called Kairos the propitious moment that disrupts chronological continuity – personified by Kronos – the time for good action, the right moment. Between chance and determinism, there is, in this sense, another indispensable possibility: the just measure that characterizes Kairos.

Recognizing the possibility of this third way, the creative moment, within the often legally imposed social time, is equivalent to admitting that the time of an open society is not regular and uniform. This time is permeated by hesitations, traversed by uncertainties, and pushed by unforeseen events and disputes of a temporal nature by multiple social agents.

In this sense, it is not only individuals who construct a memory for themselves in order to establish identities, gain legitimacy, and set projects: the same occurs, contemporaneously, in relation to societies and institutions, with law and international relations playing a central role in this dynamic, as masters of time.

Based on selected readings subsequently detailed, as suggested by Aleida Assmann, this study will investigate the different tasks of cultural memory, its means (writing, images, videos, audios, memorials, decisions, processes, etc.) in the march of historical and technical transformation in which we are currently immersed, as well as the forms of cultivating accumulated knowledge, especially within the faculties of law and international relations, and the role that jurists and internationalists play in this.

The hypothesis inherent in the Group's discussions – to be demonstrated throughout the meetings – is that the history of law and international relations, institutional memory, and cultural policies are not only intertwined, but also that what jurists and internationalists have produced in their fields in order to order time can only be adequately understood by associating said production with the uses and possible abuses and manipulations of memory and forgetting.

Following these initial discussions, the intention is to explore some of the central elements of the contemporary debate that intertwines the fields of knowledge involved in the proposal, with law and international relations being the fields that will articulate these relationships.

In particular, emphasis will be placed on themes such as theory and methodology of history; history of law and constitutional history; Brazilian history and global politics; history of authoritarianism, authoritarian constitutionalism and transitional justice in Brazil; history of international relations and history of Brazilian international relations; cultural memory, institutional memory and spaces of remembrance; national and international cultural policies; cultural studies; uses and abuses of history by law; research on judicial or extrajudicial archives; investigations into the link between culture and imperialism; studies on the relationships between law, international relations and other arts, etc.

Therefore, all practical and theoretical issues to be mediated, understood, and eventually addressed, judged, or decided also fall under the purview of law and legal professionals and international relations practitioners in contemporary times.

To participate, students do not need any prior knowledge or expertise in history, cultural studies, or legal theory.