Kent Law School PhD scholars Ahmed Memon and Eric Loefflad have launched a critical international law podcast on Soundcloud called Fool’s Utopia.

Fool’s Utopia, now the official podcast for the Law School’s Centre for Critical International Law (CeCIL), aims to offer more nuanced, layered and multi-dimensional perspectives on international law.

Ahmed said the idea arose from a shared love of a political podcast show called Chapo Trap House: ‘Eric shared an episode of the show about Syria intervention and international law on his Facebook feed. That started a conversation about how we thought the show, while being witty, funny and informative, had misrepresented international law as we understand it.’

After sharing their idea with CeCIL Director Dr Luis Eslava, Ahmed and Eric were encouraged to approach CSR FM (Canterbury’s student radio). As well as giving them studio space to record their weekly podcasts in the Student Media Centre on Kent’s Canterbury campus, CSR FM air the episodes every Monday at 10pm.

Ahmed said: ‘Our first two episodes Is International Law for Babies and Subjects of the Machine have been on colonial origins of international law, who defines what it is and why that matters, on subjects of international law. We will be covering in the future in greater detail Marxism and international law, decolonial approaches in international law, historical moments, history writing in international law.’

The third episode of the podcast, CeCIL and the Rhodes Professor, features an interview with Professor Richard Drayton, who delivered the CeCIL Annual Lecture at Kent in November. Ahmed and Eric plan to interview more invited guests throughout the coming year.