Papers by Alessandro Pelizzon
The nature of reality and of what really exists (ontology), the relationship between the knower a... more The nature of reality and of what really exists (ontology), the relationship between the knower and what is known (epistemology), what we value (axiology), the strategy and justifications in constructing a specific type of knowledge (methodology), as linked to individual techniques (method/
Settler colonial studies, Jul 29, 2014
On 26 January 2012, at the 40th anniversary of the Aboriginal tent embassy in Canberra, a number ... more On 26 January 2012, at the 40th anniversary of the Aboriginal tent embassy in Canberra, a number of Aboriginal activists from across Australia re-asserted the uninterrupted continuity of Aboriginal sovereignty in Australia. New tent embassies appeared in various urban centres (such as Brisbane, Perth and Moree) and on 24 May 2012 at Sandon Point a number of activists discussed the establishment of a National Unity Government. This paper will explore both the broader political context within which Aboriginal sovereignty claims are voiced – by looking at the growing number of similar assertions across Australia – and the legal documents and doctrines involved in such claims – such as, for example, the Pacific Islanders’ Protection Acts (1872 and 1875) and the Doctrine of Discovery – and their implications for any hegemonic assertion of sovereignty. A distinctive feature of contemporary claims to Aboriginal sovereignty is the inscription of such claims within arguments fully articulated in the colonial legal language. While this strategy is constitutive and productive of actions that are intrinsically shaped and determined by the colonial event, the strategic choices independently adopted by Aboriginal sovereignty advocates also create intersecting spaces that constitute a creative terrain for a meaningful dialogue about post-colonial identity.
In October 2009 I was fortunate enough to attend the First Australian Conference on Wild Law and ... more In October 2009 I was fortunate enough to attend the First Australian Conference on Wild Law and Earth Jurisprudence, organised by Peter Burdon and Friends of the Earth Adelaide, among the beautiful Adelaide hills. Nested in a magical environment, the conference allowed philosophers, thinkers, lawyers and activists to exchange ideas, hopes, dreams and projects around an emerging theory of law termed 'Earth Jurisprudence'. Inspired by the work of Thomas Berry and Cormac Cullinan, the participants to the conference concentrated on the question 'What if Nature had Rights?'
Heliyon, Jun 1, 2020
There are a myriad of laws, guidelines and unwritten agreements relating to human, hominid and ho... more There are a myriad of laws, guidelines and unwritten agreements relating to human, hominid and hominin remains. Legal gaps and inadequate definitions of what constitutes a fossil have meant that a 'finders keepers' approach is often applied to the ownership and control of our ancestors' remains. Such shortcomings expose numerous legal and ethical conundrums. Should any one organisation, individual or government control access to recently-found remains, limiting opportunities to unlock the secrets of evolution? Given that humans can start fossilisation processes immediately after burial, at what point does it become appropriate to dig up their remains? And who should control access to them? Could any prehistoric Homo ever have imagined they would one day be exhumed and their remains laid out in cases as the centrepiece of a museum exhibit? This paper surveys a number of implications that arise from these foundational questions, and ultimately challenges the belief that human, hominin and hominid remains are self-evident 'objects' capable of clear ownership: rather they constitute creative cultural intersections, which are deserving of greater ethical consideration. Protocols for respecting, protecting and conserving remains while allowing a greater equity in access to information about our common ancestors are both desirable and urgently required.
Griffith law review, Jan 2, 2015
In her latest book, Aboriginal Customary Law: A Source of Common Law Title to Land, Ulla Secher a... more In her latest book, Aboriginal Customary Law: A Source of Common Law Title to Land, Ulla Secher applies her extensive and rigorous engagement with native title discourse to the development of an al...
Legal education review, Aug 17, 2020
Boring, 'Gender Biases in Student Evaluations of Teaching' (n 16) 35. Recent litigation in Canada... more Boring, 'Gender Biases in Student Evaluations of Teaching' (n 16) 35. Recent litigation in Canada involving SETs exemplifies what this literature argues. 24 In April 2018, a dispute between Ryerson University, a public research university in Toronto, and its Faculty Association centred on the 'live issue' that was the University's 19
Revista Argumentum - Argumentum Journal of Law, May 1, 2020
This article analyzes a biocentric shift that is currently emerging within the Brazilian legal sy... more This article analyzes a biocentric shift that is currently emerging within the Brazilian legal system, by inscribing it within the currently emerging global discourse on rights of Nature and ecological jurisprudence. The study is justified by the magnitude of the recent environmental disasters, occurring both in Brazil and in the world, which suggest the need for greater legal role awarded to Nature in order to engender greater environmental protection. The objective of this article is to clarify the biocentric paradigm of protection of the environment and verify the feasibility of its application within Brazilian law. In conclusion, it is noted that, although the biocentric view of rights of Nature gives greater prominence and effective protection to the environment, radical changes within the Brazilian legal system are necessary.
Routledge eBooks, Mar 5, 2014
Springer eBooks, Sep 23, 2014
What lessons can be learned from the field of transitional justice in regard to the current state... more What lessons can be learned from the field of transitional justice in regard to the current state of ongoing environmental changes? Reciprocally, what can the new field of ecological jurisprudence offer to the traditional concerns of transitional justice? Scientists are overwhelmingly unanimous in asserting that anthropogenic activities are contributing to a rate of environmental changes unprecedented in recorded history, transporting all human societies into an era of ongoing environmental transition. Such a state of permanent environmental change might require us to rethink our concepts of conflict—by re-discussing the idea of humans “at war with nature” as triggered by Cartesian philosophy—of society—by including within the idea of societies nonhuman agents and entities as well as human ones—and of justice—by extending beyond an anthropocentric view of justice toward an ecocentric one. The writings and theories of authors such as Thomas Berry (Earth Jurisprudence) and Cormac Cullinan (Wild Law) might indeed pose a creative challenge to traditional ideas of what constitutes transitional justice. As a result, it could be argued that radical jurisprudential changes, such as granting nature legal subjectivity in the Ecuadorian Constitution of 2008, may represent effective example of new adaptive strategies to ensure future forms of social stability in the midst of an ongoing state of environmental change.
Contention, Jul 1, 2019
The copyright in this document is owned by the State of Victoria (Department of Education and Tra... more The copyright in this document is owned by the State of Victoria (Department of Education and Training), or in the case of some materials, by third parties (third party materials). No part may be reproduced by any process except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968 the National Education Access Licence for Schools (NEALS) (see below) or with permission. NEALS is an educational institution situated in Australia which is not conducted for profit, or a body responsible for administering such an institution may copy and communicate the materials, other than third party materials, for the educational purposes of the institution.
Routledge eBooks, Aug 15, 2023
Sustainability and climate change, Dec 1, 2021
Significant is a passage presented by Karen Lillian Martin in quoting Darlymple's research in 187... more Significant is a passage presented by Karen Lillian Martin in quoting Darlymple's research in 1874: 'Mr. Johnstone found in a large bark gunyah of the blacks, a curious and interesting specimen of defunct humanity, viz., the body of a black gin, doubled up and tied like a roll of spiced beef, and of the same color and somewhat of the same smell ... Mr. Johnstone brought it on board, and I have had the pleasure of placing it in the Brisbane Museum. Mr. Johnstone left a couple of blankets and a tomahawk for the bereaved relatives, who would doubtlessly rightly appreciate the exchange. The head of this mummy is small-the animal organs being developed in distortion, the mental being next to nil; in fact, it is of the very lowest type of human formation' in W.Darlymple, Narratives and reports of the Queensland northeast coast expedition 1873 (1874) in Martin, above n 3, 26. Classical research, according to Martin, was underpinned by three assumptions: firstly, that the taking of Aboriginal belongings (both cultural and physical, including human remains) could be justified as data collection; secondly, that such collection required no permission from Aboriginal people; and thirdly, that the losses incurred by Aboriginal people could be compensated. Moreover, that such compensation could be determined by the researchers themselves. 24 Connected to these three assumptions are five beliefs identified by Hart as underpinning early Aboriginal research: 25 firstly, that scientific (that is, 'good') research could only be done by non-Aboriginal researchers, or, more precisely, in the context of a European scientific epistemology. Secondly, that researchers had the intrinsic right to research Aboriginal peoples and communities. Thirdly, that the findings of such research would have reinforced the ideas of Aboriginal inferiority (this point indicates a tautological approach to the research itself, in that the findings were unilaterally used to reinforce the premises that determined the parameters of the research itself). Fourthly, that knowledge is always public and that Aboriginal knowledge, as a consequence, must be treated as public and entirely accessible to the researchers. Fifthly, and consequently, that any exploitation of Aboriginal knowledge was to be justified in light of the research enterprise. The result of this early researching attitude is that Aboriginal research was a research on and about Aboriginal people by non-Aboriginal researchers. It's only with Noel Loos and Henry Reynolds that cross-cultural interactions are reconstructed in terms of frontiers, and only in the last two decades of the twentieth century. 26 Frontiers are here to be intended not simply as physical and spatial boundaries but mainly as the interaction of distinct epistemological horizons. What is the role of history in what is worth knowing? Is history an event that keeps us shackled to mindless repetition or is it a clue on our path toward liberation and right action? For many, history and the ideas embedded in culture help us think about the distinctness of a people and how that uniqueness thrives or shrinks in the contexts we now find ourselves in. Culture has been described as actions, beliefs and values that a group of people agree are "best practices". It is specific to place, climate and time. Culture has an origin, a present expression and a future design. With regard to knowledge, the specifics of culture are what springs from scores of generations living in a location. That knowledge, shaped by space and time, is open to historic influences and becomes 12 24 Ibid.
Law, technology and humans, May 6, 2020
In 2017, 25 young Colombians, then aged 15 to 25 and living in 17 different Colombian municipalit... more In 2017, 25 young Colombians, then aged 15 to 25 and living in 17 different Colombian municipalities, initiated the first successful climate change and future generations lawsuit in Latin America 2 and, indeed, the world. 3 Assisted by the organisation Dejusticia, the young plaintiffs filed a tutela action-a special action under the Colombian Constitution that allows individuals to demand the protection of their fundamental rights. In this action, the plaintiffs contended that the current deforestation rates and their destructive consequences were violating their future right to a healthy environment. 4 They further submitted that
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Papers by Alessandro Pelizzon