Langscape Magazine Vol. 12

From Rights to Responsibilities: Toward a Biocultural Resurgence

Volume 12 | 2023

Is reclaiming rights enough for a biocultural resurgence? Or must we also reassert our responsibilities toward each other and the Earth? In this issue, stories and reflections from Indigenous and non-Indigenous voices examine how the interplay of rights and responsibilities can foster a renewed flourishing of diversity in nature and culture. Read the Editorial and Table of Contents.

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Editorial | Rights and Responsibilities: An Inextricable Link

Langscape Magazine Volume 12

Reviving Eco-civilizations: Our Best Hope for the Future

In Hawaiʻi, the concept of rights is more accurately understood to mean responsibilities.

From Rights to Responsibilities: Regenerating Kinship Relations

For Indigenous Peoples, their relationships to the lands, waters, and natural world shape their responsibilities, governance, and self-determining authority.

Hunting with Amnesia: Remembering Our Responsibilities to Indigenous Lands

Indigenous cultures understand wildlife as fellow nations whose actions enable or curtail human aspirations.

Give and Take: Shifting Perspectives on Kalamos Island, Greece

A local community grapples with increasing social and environmental pressures that are changing the balance between rights and responsibilities.

Gone with the Tide

Rising sea levels threaten a local community’s biocultural heritage and the residents' right to an ecologically responsible way of life.

Listening to the Land

A wilderness hike reminds a young woman that privileges come with responsibilities.

Growing Pains: The Price of My Negligence

Reflecting on his life's path, a young writer from Ghana realizes that there are no rights without responsibilities.

The Oyster Picnic

A designer takes responsibility to learn about the landscape and the Aboriginal languages that describe it.

It All Starts with Opening Our Hearts: A Dialogue about Earth Jurisprudence

Every being on Earth has both inherent rights and the responsibility to participate in the web of life.

Territory of Life: The Story of Ibola Dja Bana da Massaha, the Reserve of All Massaha Children

A forest community in Gabon affirms its will for self-determination and responsible management of its ancestral land.

Rites and Responsibilities: What Role for White Settlers in the Work for Indigenous Sovereignty?

Reconnecting to her roots, a descendant of settlers reflects on the legacy of colonization that her ancestors both endured and perpetuated.

The Wealth of Our Lands: Celebrating Boititap Korenyo with the Ogiek of Mount Elgon, Kenya

A community advocates for land rights and protects its ancestral forest with mapping technology.

Where Elephants Drink: Water Bodies and Human–Elephant Coexistence

Water patterns and an ancient human–elephant social contract hold important lessons for eco-justice.

We Are Wildlife; Wildlife Is Us

Indigenous Peoples have a right to draw resources from the local environment and an obligation to follow traditional practices to protect it.

Legal Rights and Spiritual Responsibilities: Indigenous Land Struggles in Costa Rica

Indigenous Peoples fight for their land rights to uphold their inherent responsibilities to the earth.

One Last Offering of Oranges

The right to formal education is considered so sacrosanct that we fail to see how it can undermine our biocultural responsibilities.

Piikanissini: A Piikani Collective Biocultural Heritage Approach

Biocultural community protocols can help Indigenous Peoples communicate ancestral laws and responsibilities to external actors.

Ethical Straw: Reviving a Sustainable Weaving Tradition in Nepal

Indigenous Newah farming communities reaffirm their identity and protect the land by rekindling ancestral artisanal skills.

Ituri: Challenges and Prospects for Biocultural Heritage in Conflict Situations

A civilian peacekeeper explores the role of biocultural rights and responsibilities in achieving reconciliation and a lasting peace in conflict areas.

The Rohingya Refugees: Language and Our Ethical Responsibility

A young volunteer reflects on the rights of refugees and the responsibilities of host countries.

Women Do It Differently: Realizing the Responsibilities of Rights in an Indigenous Community of India

Village women succeed where the men had failed in restoring the community’s fisheries.

On Becoming A Steward

In Mexico and Canada, a budding environmentalist learns important lessons in awareness and responsibility.

Rani’s Rayah

A Dayak woman unleashes the power of song in defense of Borneo’s forest.

La forêt de notre passé, la forêt de notre avenir : Gestion des bois d’un commun français

Une promenade dans l’un des communs fonciers montre que le droit à l’autonomie garantit une gestion responsable des ressources naturelles.

Forest of Our Past, Forest of Our Future: Managing the Woods of an Ancient French Common

A walk through one of France’s land commons reveals that the right to self-govern ensures the responsible management of natural resources.

“Good Fire”: An Intertribal Alliance Empowers Native Californians to Restore Their Homelands

Tribal members take responsibility toward the land by reviving ancestral cultural burning.

Custodianship for the Common Good: Restoring Traditional Concepts of Rights and Responsibilities

Inclusive international law and governance and a shared ethical framework are needed to sustain both people and the planet.

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