Highlights from the recent course “Indigenizing the Law: Tribal Sovereignty & the Rights of Nature”, hosted by Britt Gondolfi, featuring Casey Camp-Horinek, Frank Bibeau, Samuel Genshaw III, Juliette Jackson, Thomas Linzey, Raynell Morris and Samantha Skenandore.

Tribal Sovereignty has been under attack by the Federal government, the court system, and the States since the country’s inception. Every year, new cases threaten the legal status of Tribes and their right to self-govern. In addition to the attacks on sovereignty, persistent ecological threats and undesirable developments are encroaching on Indian Country. Our current laws and legal precedents put Tribal Nations in a constant defensive position, protecting the natural world and their right to self-determination. Between these two battles, for sovereignty and the planet, the Rights of Nature movement presents an opportunity and strategy to take an affirmative stance for both. This course examines the prominent cases, laws, and legal theories that make up “Federal Indian Law” while exploring the intersections between the movements for Native Sovereignty and the Rights of Nature. It covers the legal history that brought us to the mess we are in while positing what might happen if Tribes across the country asserted their rights to self-determination and the Rights of Nature.

Visit bioneerslearning.org to browse future courses.