A cross-cultural, cross-disciplinary dialogue
This event has been RESCHEDULED for a date to be announced in 2019 As there has been considerable interest in this symposium you are advised to register now. All those who have registered their interest in advance will be the first to be advised when a new date has been decided. REGISTER YOUR INTEREST NOW Sovereignty is a foundational concept for the globally dominant systems of jurisprudence, international relations and governance. But this Western thinking about sovereignty is stuck in the European and colonial past, making it hard to deal with a whole range of urgent global and local challenges from climate change, to ecosystem protection and renewal, to honouring the wisdom of indigenous cultures. Sovereignty’s expression in the theory of the nation state since the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648 and the sovereignty of the individual according to some readings of the US Constitution of 1787 have become inimical to the viability of our own species and many others as well. A new conception of sovereignty vested in the Earth and asserting the preeminence of respect for the matrix of life, the integrity of the biosphere, and the inalienability of our global commons has become a necessity. The redefinition of Earth sovereignty as prior to and more fundamental than human agency would provide a basis on which to reframe all our doctrines of authority, justice and responsible governance. In this respect Australia’s indigenous knowledge systems and traditions of Caring for Country have much to teach the hegemonic cultures of crisis prone techno-industrial growth societies. This symposium will invite a dialogue between four principal praxis streams within a context of indigenous understandings of human participation in and responsibility for the natural order. The four praxis streams will be: • Law, Governance and Politics • Earth System Science • Planetary Health • Society and Culture Particpation in the symposium will be by invitation following a call for expressions of interest. Participants may offer to present a paper, convene a panel, facilitate a roundtable or dialogue circle, or simply contribute to the deliberations.
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