Through fieldwork with Indigenous communities in Bolivia and Guatemala, Nina explores the deep disconnect between conventional legal concepts—such as property rights—and Indigenous worldviews that conceive the Earth as a living being.
Her research introduces the concept of ‘territory as a victim’—a legal hybrid that bridges Indigenous perspectives with Western understandings of victimhood. This approach calls for a radical shift in how environmental protection and justice are conceptualised in international law.
By emphasising bottom-up methodologies and decolonial practices, Nina's work urges a transformative, inclusive legal paradigm that reflects the voices and values of Indigenous communities.
Watch the full episode here.
Nina Bries Silva is a doctoral researcher at the EUI Department of Law. Her doctoral thesis, titled ‘Nature as a living-being: Reconceptualizing the right to reparation from an indigenous vision’ is supervised by Professor Neha Jain.