The Politics of Time in Legal History: A Reflection on the Power of Graphic Narratives

Abstract

This article reflects on the politics of time in legal history through the lens of Camino y Ruptura, a graphic history I authored based on my doctoral research on Indigenous legal practices in early 20th-century Cauca, Colombia. By tracing the legal and political strategies of Indigenous communities – particularly their use of petitions, archives, and legal norms – I examine how alternative, non-linear conceptions of time inform Indigenous engagements with law, history, and political resistance. Drawing on both archival sources and contemporary Indigenous epistemologies, I argue that time operates not merely as a backdrop but as a central political category in struggles for land, justice, and recognition. Through the use of graphic narrative, Camino y Ruptura seeks to visualize the coexistence of past, present, and future as a spiral, challenging dominant legal-historical methodologies rooted in Western linear temporality. The article reflects on the possibilities and tensions of combining historical scholarship and visual storytelling to construct a more inclusive and plural legal history.