“A Work of Mourning: Criticism after Nasser Hussain”

Abstract

This article recalls and recounts Nasser Hussain’s unique manner of thinking. Focusing on several texts that reflect the extraordinary range of his curiosity and erudition – the book The Jurisprudence of Emergency: Colonialism and the Rule of Law (2003), and two articles, “Hyperlegality” (2007), and “The Sound of Terror: Phenomenology of a Drone Strike” (2013), as well as a co-authored Amici Curiae brief in support of the petitioners in the case of Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co. (2011) – the article discusses three areas where Hussain’s work makes the greatest impact: history, jurisprudence, and critique.