Abstract

Graphic novels have been previously recognized by scholarly research as a valuable conceptual lens for thinking critically about law. Asserting the need for a deeper engagement with the material foundations, ontological beliefs and epistemological grids that lie under the development of international law of the sea, this article delves into the imaginary oceanic universe of Hugo Pratt’s classic graphic novel series, Corto Maltese. In conjunction with the comic series, “law and comics” literature, Indigenous studies, and new materialism thinking, the article examines different ontological values related to the material oceanic universe that are incorporated in the graphic narrative, juxtaposing them with beliefs embedded in the Western legal understanding of the ocean systems. Using the graphic novel series as a methodological device, the article thus seeks to revisit some of the law of the sea’s fundamental assumptions and ground future discussions towards a material turn of international law of the sea, and not least Western philosophy as a whole.

摘要

图画小说先前已被学术研究视为批判性思考法律的宝贵概念镜头。断言需要更深入地参与国际海洋法发展下的物质基础、本体论信仰和认识论网格，本文深入探讨了 Hugo Pratt 的经典图画小说系列Corto Maltese中虚构的海洋宇宙. 结合漫画系列、“法律与漫画”文学、土著研究和新唯物主义思想，本文考察了与图形叙事中所包含的物质海洋宇宙相关的不同本体论价值，并将它们与植根于西方世界的信仰并置对海洋系统的法律理解。因此，使用图画小说系列作为方法论手段，本文试图重新审视海洋法的一些基本假设，并为未来的讨论奠定基础，以实现国际海洋法的实质性转变，尤其是整个西方哲学。