(2024) 5 TWAIL Review 1-29
ISSN 2563-6693
Published under a Creative Commons licence. 

This article explores the lyrics of Bob Marley in the light of a TWAIL approach to international legal education. It starts by identifying an ‘aesthetic turn’ in critical international legal scholarship, discussing the use of music for educational purposes. The second part devises four TWAIL-inspired questions that should guide the interpretation of Marley’s lyrics. The third part finally proceeds with the analysis of Marley’s song lyrics. It is concluded that, to the extent that lyrics depicted or reflected international legal processes, institutions, movements, and ideas from specifically Third-Worldist points of view, Bob Marley’s work can be seen as providing valuable lessons for learning and unlearning international law, for developing critical, anti-colonial historical sensitivities, and for strengthening a spirit of the Third World, anti-imperialist, and anti-racist solidarity. The analysis found four main thematic axes relevant for TWAIL scholarship: 1) the continuity of colonial patterns of oppression and exploitation after the end of formal imperialism; 2) the ubiquitous presence of imperialism in the daily life experiences of oppressed peoples; 3) the transformative power of Rastafarianism in reclaiming African history, fostering a political identity against slavery and racial oppression, and addressing contemporary challenges of regional integration, human rights, and decolonization; and 4) Marley’s project of epistemological emancipation, a spiritual and political call for the decolonization of the mind, of ideas and also material practices that continually reproduce injustices and oppression across the globe.