Human and Community Rights: Pursuing Justice for Indigenous People

Human and Community Rights: Pursuing Justice for Indigenous People

How can an indigenous,group successfully assert legal and human rights nationally and internationally? From intellectual and real property to religious and cultural claims, this question poses challenges of legal doctrine, theory, and strategy. With the Rastafari of Jamaica as a case study, this seminar will offer students opportunities to engage with these challenges and learn about practical efforts, philosophic, debates, and legal tools.

From the perspective of an extraordinary indigenous movement emergent from Caribbean slavery, Rastafari, this seminar offers a concept of "law" in context with the sovereignty of self.Overstanding rastafari starts with recognition of the sovereignty of i -- the individual ethical domain within which each one of us is sovereign. From this starting point we study law of family, community, state, nation, and nation states. Our legal foci will include:

1. property law

(a) real (adverse possession of sovereign land)

(b) 'intellectual' (sharing commercial value of the brand of rastafari)

2. comparative law of states

(a) religious freedom (legality of cannabis as sacrament)

(b) spiritual freedom (legality of cannabis use to feel the spirit of jah)

(d) freedom to farm

(e) freedom to trade

3. amplification of indigenous authenticity as a developmental legal strategy for change.

This is a two credit year-long seminar with face to face meetings in the fall term ending at thanksgiving, face to face meetings in the spring term ending at spring vacation, and online connection throughout.

Who might be interested in this seminar?

·students in search of grounding in the thinking of marcus garvey, leonard howell, stokely charmichael, ras iyah v, and ras tafari.

·students who have felt themselves an outsider in an oxbridge colonial capitalist culture of higher education.

·students interested in asserting an alternative perspective to the legal and social rhetorical conception of cannabis as a dangerous drug.

·anyone who wants to learn why Jamaicans run so fast.

Students may have opportunity to participate ina program in Jamaicafor boys and girls that uses the digital functionality now open to us to enable students to explore engagement with each other along safe pathways from digital anonymity to full physical presence. babylon be gone.

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Guests may include Dr. Jahlani Niaah,Ras Iyah V, Barbara Blake Hannah, Desmond Green, Kevin Wallen, Firstman Wray.