Chloe Incaprera
Pronouns: she/her
Research Mentor(s): Oday Salim
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Environmental Law & Sustainability Clinic / Law
Program: UROPF
Session: Session 5 (2:40pm – 3:30pm)
Authors:
Abstract
This minicourse raises the question of “What human rights should we give to animals and natural resources?†Through investigating how animals and natural resources are depicted through different types of media, students see how the “personhood†of non-humans must be acknowledged to answer how non-humans can or should be represented in a court of law. Thus, this research project looks toward depictions of animals or natural resources in the media advocating for themselves. Jerry Seinfield’s The Bee Movie is an unsuspecting yet valuable example of an animal advocating for himself, speaking in a court of law to protect bee colonies. A recent example seen in today’s media and known by many would be the death of Harambe the gorilla, who was shot after a boy fell into his enclosure. What rights did Harambe have? Was his death just? Could a case be made that those at fault should be prosecuted? The juxtaposition of real life and story examples helps students come closer to answering how animals and natural resources should be represented legally. While the answer varies case by case, learning about how the media depicts animals and natural resources lets us better understand the overlap of human and non-human rights.
