MOTH Festival of Ideas

The morning sessions comprise an interdisciplinary, interactive conference.

Debates and initiatives on the rights of the more-than-human world are here to stay. Recent developments in the natural sciences, moral philosophy, and politics have fundamentally challenged the categorical distinction between human and nonhuman forms of life that is at the core of modern law and human rights thought and practice. However, legal thought and practice, including human rights, remain largely anthropocentric.

The premise of this Festival is that a fruitful discussion of the rights of nature—or, as we propose to call them, more-than-human (MOTH) rights—needs to consider a broad range of knowledges and practices. This interdisciplinary conference will bring together scholars and practitioners from diverse fields and disciplinary backgrounds, including the social sciences, law, natural sciences, philosophy and the arts, to explore the concept of more-than-human rights and well-being from various angles.

The conference will be organized around five main thematic areas:

1. Storytelling in the more-than-human rights field: literary journalism, fiction, and other narratives that engage with the well-being and rights of the more-than-human world.

2. More-than-human rights in theory: conceptual approaches to the more-than-human world, including philosophical frameworks, Indigenous thought, and spiritual approaches that emphasize ecological and holistic thinking.

3. More-than-human rights in practice: cases, campaigns, and sociolegal mobilizations for the recognition of the rights and interests of the more-than-human world.

4. MOTH rights innovations: social, legal, political, and technological innovations for engagement with the more-than-human world.

5. MOTH in the natural sciences: advances in botany, mycology, ethology, physics, and other fields that drive home the entanglement of the human and the more-than-human worlds.

Participation is determined by application.

The afternoon sessions are open to the public and serve as a platform to engage a broader audience in conversations and actions aimed at advancing the rights and well-being of humans, nonhumans, and the web of life that sustains us all.

With creativity and interdisciplinarity at its heart, the Festival includes keynote talks and conversations, film screenings, and performances of various kinds by prominent scientists, lawyers, Indigenous leaders, artists, advocates, and scholars from around the world.