Indigenizing the Law:

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 makeup "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.

The course is open to everyone who wants to learn strategies for protecting Tribal lands and waters in Indian Country. We especially welcome youth to this course and strongly encourage Tribal grassroots organizers, Educators, Administrators, Officials, and Lawyers to join us. Allies of Tribes are welcome to attend!

At the end of the course, you’ll leave feeling informed and empowered to make positive change happen for your Tribe. The “law” is just a series of stories that create a system. We hope this course is an entertaining and informative story-time that will fire you up to “Indigenize the Law.”

To dive even deeper, we encourage you to also register and attend the course beginning in October: The Rights of Nature: Drafting, Adopting, and Enforcing Rights of Nature Laws in Cities, Towns, and Counties.

Britt Gondolfi is a Cajun Creole Houma Descendant from Southeast Louisiana. After completing law school, Britt was hired to coordinate the Bioneers Indigeneity Program’s Rights of Nature in Indian Country Initiative. Before this, she conducted legal research to co-develop Bioneers’ Guide to Rights of Nature in Indian Country. Passionate about this subject matter, she earned the highest grade in her Federal Indian Law class at Loyola University of New Orleans. In 2024, she published her first children’s book, Look Up! Fontaine the Pigeon Starts a Revolution, a hilarious cautionary tale about screen use.