Prof. Valeria Vázquez Guevara
Assistant Professor
PhD, Melbourne Law School, Australia
MA, University of Notre Dame, US
MA, Oñati IISL, Basque Country/Spain
LLB, University of Granada, Spain
Biography
Dr Valeria Vázquez Guevara researches and teaches across the areas of public international law, law-and-humanities, and land/property law. Her research and teaching engage law-and-humanities methodologies to examine how law and institutions – in its public and private dimensions – shape the quality of public life, particularly in the Global South and in North-South relations. Valeria’s research and teaching builds on Valeria’s personal and professional experiences in El Salvador, Spain, the Basque Country, South Africa, Australia, and most recently Hong Kong SAR.
Valeria is the author of Truth Commissions and International Law: Jurisdiction, Representation, Authority (Cambridge University Press). The book’s Preface can be read here. The book develops a novel understanding of how Truth Commissions do (international) legal work in post-conflict contexts, and its ongoing consequences. The book expands on her doctoral thesis at Melbourne Law School, which won the University of Melbourne Chancellor’s Prize for Excellence in the PhD Thesis and Melbourne Law School’s Harold Luntz Prize for Best Doctoral Thesis. Valeria’s next major research project focuses on the historical and contemporary relationship between ASEAN, diplomacy and international law, with a particular focus on land tenure issues.
Valeria serves vice-president of the Law, Literature and Humanities Association of Australasia, and as co-convener of the Critical Approaches to International Law Interest Group of the European Society of International Law (ESIL). Previously, Valeria has served as co-chair of the History and Theory of International Law Interest Group of the Australian and New Zealand Society of International Law (2022-2025), and as Managing Editor and Editorial Board member of the Australian Feminist Law Journal (2021-2023).
Research Area
- Public International Law
- Law-and-Humanities Methodologies
- International Law and Post-Conflict Institutions
- Land/Property Law
Research Area
- Public International Law
- Law-and-Humanities Methodologies
- International Law and Post-Conflict Institutions
- Land/Property Law
Publications
Editorship and External Positions
Monograph
Truth Commissions and International Law: Jurisdiction, Representation, Authority (Cambridge University Press, 2026). *See book here and read the Preface here*
Peer-Reviewed Articles
Claerwen O’Hara and Valeria Vázquez Guevara, “‘We, the Peoples of the Earth’: ALBA, Populism and the Making of an Alternative International Law”, London Review of International Law, vol 13, no 2 (2025). Open Access: https://academic.oup.com/lril/article/13/2/201/8173217?searchresult=1.
Valeria Vázquez Guevara, “Prologue to Truth: Argentina’s National Commission on the Disappeared and the Authority of International Law”, Leiden Journal of International Law, vol 35, no 1 (2022).
Valeria Vázquez Guevara, “Crafting the Lawful Truth: Chile’s 1990 Truth Commission, International Human Rights and the Museum of Memory”, London Review of International Law, vol 7, no 2 (2019).
Valeria Vázquez Guevara, “Political Coexistence in the Basque Case: Institutional Action on Violence, Pluralism and Agreements”, Oñati Socio-Legal Series, vol 8, no 7 (2018).
Edited Chapters
Valeria Vázquez Guevara, “Gertrude Bell’s Orientalist Authority in The Arab of Mesopotamia”, Cambridge Handbook of Law, Literature and Postcolonialism, eds. Leila Neti and Marco Wan (Cambridge University Press, forth)
Valeria Vázquez Guevara, “Living Together after Violent Conflict: Museum-Making as Lawful Truth-Making”, in Routledge Handbook of International Law and the Humanities, eds. Shane Chalmers and Sundhya Pahuja (Routledge, 2021).
Book Reviews
Valeria Vázquez Guevara, Claerwen O’Hara, Sundhya Pahuja and Jessica Whyte, “World-Making Through Market Morality: A Conversation about Human Rights, Neoliberalism and Political Struggle”, Australian Feminist Law Journal, vol 49, no 1 (2021).
Public Writing
Valeria Vázquez Guevara and Claerwen O’Hara, “Allende, Populism, and an International Law of Solidarity”, NUS Centre for International Law Dialogues (19 Dec 2023): https://cil.nus.edu.sg/blogs/salvador-allende-populism-and-an-international-law-of-solidarity/.
Valeria Vázquez Guevara, “Locating the Archives: The United Nations and El Salvador’s Collective Memory in Midtown Manhattan”, Legal Sightseeing (14 Dec 2022): https://legalsightseeing.org/2022/12/14/locating-the-archives/
Valeria Vázquez Guevara, “Op-Ed: Fair Play and Regulation – The Experience of Caster Semenya”, Daily Maverick (26 Aug 2016): Op-Ed__Fair_play_and_regulation_-_the_experience_of_Caster_Semenya___Daily_Maverick.pdf
Co-Convener, Critical Approaches to International Law Interest Group, European Society of International Law, 2025 – pres.
Vice-President & Executive Committee Member, Law, Literature and Humanities Association of Australasia, 2021 – pres.
Advisory Board Member, “Law, Aesthetics and Art” Series, CEU Press/University of Amsterdam Press, 2025 – pres.
Editorial Board Member, Asia-Pacific Journal on Human Rights and the Law (Brill), 2025 – pres.
Co-Chair, History and Theory of International Law Interest Group, Australian and New Zealand Society of International Law, 2022-2025.
Managing Editor, Australian Feminist Law Journal (Taylor & Francis), 2021-2023.