Indigenous Peoples’ Struggles for Defense of Water, Land and Human Rights

LAW

8611

Indigenous Peoples’ Struggles for Defense of Water, Land and Human Rights

This course examines historical and contemporary struggles over Indigenous land and water as a point of entry into examining different legal practice areas and doctrines impacting Indigenous peoples. The course posits the law both as a tool of extracting sacred sites, ancestral lands, the water and the earth from Indigenous people as well as a tool that can be wielded to support water, land, and human rights defenders in vindicating their fundamental human rights. The issues addressed in the course exist at the intersection of many areas of law. Relevant areas of law discussed include United States Federal law, Constitutional law, International Law, Administrative and Environmental regulations related to the protection of the earth, litigation strategies and defense (including SLAPP suits and criminal defense) and law involving land and water rights. The course uses case studies to explore the challenges and possibilities of using the law in attempts to protect and expand Indigenous claims. The course seeks to help students develop the skills necessary to be an effective advocate in this area. One key goal of the course is to encourage students to actively create legal and policy solutions that increase the effective exercise of self-determination by Indigenous people globally.

Fall, Spring

Law

Yes