Abdelghany Sayed

Research project

Project title: On Being a Shield: An Inquiry into Discourses of Agency and Cultural Perspectives Surrounding Human Shields

Description of the project: This research sets out to provide a reimagined account of what the law would have been had it reflected the perspectives and interests of the “others” of international law. It starts with the use of the language of international law, particularly the framework of ‘human shields’, by states to devalue the lives of a given subject. This question serves to uncover the theoretical implications and cultural assumptions underlying this discourse.

This research subsequently takes a bottom-up approach which seeks to interact with the view from the ground. If a state could, through international legal language frame a population as silent objects––as ‘shields’––, it is then time to hear the shields speak. This approach is premised on a cultural investigation of the notion of ‘remaining’ in one’s land or house or at home, despite imminent or proximate lethal violence, as depicted in music and cinema.