Unruly Oceans: Law, Violence, and Sovereignty at Sea

*Special Call: Interdisciplinary Team-Teaching Grant*

"Unruly Oceans: Law, Violence, and Sovereignty at Sea" will introduce undergraduate students to the ocean as an economic, political, and legal domain. Drawing on the expertise of a legal scholar and a historian, this course will offer students new insights into oceans as spaces that have been central to the development of modern international law, as the main conduits of globalized trade, and as sites of conflicts over resources, sovereignty, and, more recently, the ongoing climate catastrophe. The course will draw on historical and contemporary readings — including primary sources, legal texts, and policy documents — and incorporate a series of topic experts from Allard School of Law, the Institute for Oceans and Fisheries, Critical Indigenous Studies, the Social Justice Institute, and Journalism. Students will also go on two field trips — to the Vancouver Maritime Museum and the Vancouver Port Authority — to facilitate experiential and community engaged learning.

Renisa Mawani, Professor, Sociology, Faculty of Arts
Sebastian Prange, Associate Professor, History, Faculty of Arts