ENV 962a () / 2024-2025

Tribal Resources and Sovereignty-Clinic

Credits: 3 Fall 2024: W, 9:00-11:50, Sage 24

Tribal sovereignty is the primary basis and feature for Native-led conservation. It also forms the backbone of most relationships, whether between the tribes and the states or the federal government or between the tribes and private actors. The readings and other required materials will cover fundamentals and history of tribal sovereignty, inventory and examination of successful Native-led conservation approaches, an overview and examples of the historical remnants of colonialism that still create obstacles for tribes, and contemporary Indigenous perspectives of persistent land-based issues prevalent today such as Indigenous plant-based medicine and the land back movement. Key broad questions to address include “What are Native co-management and collaborative management
approaches?” and “What are today’s institutional and structural barriers for successful tribal co-management?”

This is a graduate-level course,  with no prerequisites. It is designed for master’s and Ph.D. students at the Yale School of the Environment, students at the Law School, the School of Management, and the Divinity School. Yale College undergraduates and graduate students from elsewhere in Yale may enroll in this course with the approval of the instructor. To request approval to enroll, please email Professor Jessica Doe Mehta and the TFs. As a clinic-based course, students will be assigned to groups that will work with partner organizations on a project. Clinical projects partnerships are still being finalized at this time, but we will reach out to admitted students in August to ascertain partnership preferences.