Biography

Raghavi Viswanath is an Indian legal academic and consultant in the fields of international human rights law and international criminal law. She is a doctoral researcher at the European University Institute in Florence where she is supported by a scholarship from Nuffic-Beurs. Her doctoral project proposes a multimedia, ethnographic reimagination of cultural rights in international human rights law using non/counterhegemonic epistemologies. Her project draws on months-long collaborative fieldwork with the Irulars, a semi-nomadic community based in southern India. The doctoral thesis combines Raghavi’s academic interest in challenging dominant epistemologies in international law, her passion for music and fine arts, and her own lived experience as an Indian lawyer navigating academia in Europe. Raghavi holds postgraduate degrees from Leiden Law School and the University of Oxford, and a Bachelor of Arts and Law degree from the National Law Institute University (India).

From September-December 2022, she was a visiting fellow at the Amsterdam Centre for International Law. Alongside her PhD, Raghavi is a consultant for cultural rights collectives in India and Kenya, a Research Associate at the Global Citizenship Observatory, and a Senior Research Associate at Public International Law and Policy Group. Raghavi has taught undergraduate and postgraduate courses at the National Law School of India University, the University of Firenze, the University of Salamanca, La Sapienza University, Ashoka University, and the University of East London. Raghavi’s broader interests lie in rights of minorities, racism in international law, decolonial approaches to international law, and international criminal law.

Fields of expertise

• Global citizenship