Courtroom encounters at the ICC: negotiating justice, adjudicating culture
This dissertation examines how cultural diversity shapes fact finding and judicial reasoning at the International Criminal Court (ICC). Drawing on in depth case studies, it explores the challenges that arise not only in evaluating witness testimony across culturally diverse contexts but also in interpreting and adjudicating culturally infused arguments advanced by the trial parties. It investigates the extent to which the international criminal legal framework accommodates or marginalizes non hegemonic narratives, interpretive practices, and modes of reasoning. Through a qualitative analysis of trial transcripts, party submissions, and judicial decisions, the study traces how cultural norms surface and collide in the courtroom, and identifies which cultural issues recur most frequently, who invokes them, the strategic or doctrinal purposes they serve, and the ways in which they shape judicial reasoning and case outcomes. The dissertation shows that culture operates as both an interpretive resource that can enrich the Court’s understanding of facts and intentions, and a potential source of distortion.