Colloquium 247 - Beyond the Human: International Rights in Practice

The twenty-first century is emerging as the century of the rights of nature. A powerful shift is happening globally as national constitutions recognize rivers and forests as subjects of legal rights and the international criminal court codifies the crime of ecocide. This new legal paradigm comes from indigenous worldviews. Indigenous peoples value nature as their equal, seeing humans as part of nature. Yanomami shaman Davi Kopenawa says that “in the forest, the ecology are us the people,” whereas the public intellectual Ailton Krenak reminds us that nature is an invention of culture. If humans and nature are one and the same, how are we to dissociate between the rights of nature and human rights in international law? This course focuses on international rights, indigenous worldviews, and political claims to explore the interface of international human rights with the emerging rights of nature framework. It is designed to expose students to the mechanisms of international human rights law and courts and provide hands on experience with concrete legal cases. From the Inter-American Court of Human Rights to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, students will study the theoretical foundations of international human rights law, how international norms are adopted in international legal systems, and the creativity of indigenous claims to redefine international rights and what it means to be human. Close engagement with case studies will permit to see how local communities implement international norms in local contexts and how local experiences shape international norms. The course combines theoretical foundations with guest lectures from scholars, lawyers, politicians, and nature defenders active in the fields of human, indigenous and nature rights, leading experts with experience in self-determination.

Students will develop an individual project to support a specific legal case of territorial defense, whether for nature or indigenous peoples, for instance through in-depth research or in the form of an amicus brief. Another component of the course is to attend the “More Than Human Life Festival of Ideas” organized annually by NYU Law. 

This course is part of a tutorial series that engages Amherst students in substantive research with faculty in the humanities and humanistic social sciences.

Priority given to Political Science students who have experience in LJST, Indigenous studies and Environmental studies.

Open to sophomores and juniors interested in research. Limited to 6 students. Admission with consent of the instructor. Offered Spring Semester 2026. Professor Picq. 

How to handle overenrollment: students will be admitted upon filling requisites and interviewing with faculty. Priority given to POSC majors with experience in LJST, indigenousstudies and environmental studies.

Students who enroll in this course will likely encounter and be expected to engage in the following intellectual skills, modes of learning, and assessment: Students are expected to work collaboratively, read all materials, and develop an in-depth research project to support a specific legal case of territorial defense, whether for nature or indigenous peoples, for instance through in-depth research or in the form of an amicus brief. Student will also be expected to attend the “More Than Human Life Festival of Ideas” organized annually by NYU Law (weekend field-trip).