River Goddesses, Personhood and Rights of Nature: Implications for Spiritual Ecology
Identification
- Public canonical key
- doi:10.3390/rel10090502
- Authors
- Kelly D. Alley
- Reported year
- 2019
- Reported language
- en
- Source type
- article
- First detected
- 2026-11-09T19:04:47.863530+00:00
- Last metadata observation
- 2026-11-10T16:58:51.170709+00:00
- Last HTTP verification
- Not checked
Institutions reported by the source
Anthropology, Auburn University, 7030 Haley Center, Auburn, AL 36849, USA · Auburn University
Reported affiliation countries
US
Documentary abstract — original language
Designating rights for nature is a potentially powerful way to open up the dialogue on nature conservation around the world and provide enforcement power for an ecocentric approach. Experiments using a rights-based framework have combined in-country perspectives, worldviews, and practices with legal justifications giving rights to nature. This paper looks at a fusion of legal traditions, religious worldviews, and practices of environmental protection and advocacy in the context of India. It takes two specific legal cases in India and examines the recent high-profile rulings designating the rivers Ganga, Yamuna, and their tributaries and glaciers as juristic persons. Although the rulings were stayed a few months after their issuance, they are an interesting bending of the boundaries of nature, person, and deity that produce Ganga and Yamuna as vulnerable prototypes. This paper uses interview data focusing on these cases and document and archival data to ask whether legal interventions giving rights to nature can become effective avenues for environmental activism and spiritual ecology. The paper also assesses whether these legal cases have promoted Hindu nationalism or ‘Hindutva lite’.
Identifiers
- OPENALEX
- W2970702188
- DOI
- 10.3390/rel10090502
- ISSN
- 2077-1444
- OPENAIRE
- doi_dedup___::e6caf061b555d4b835fd69a9febfb6d9
Documentary context
- Documentary family
- Scholarship
- Source-reported types
- Article · article
- Jurisdictions studied — explicit sources
- IN
- Natural entities mentioned
- River · Glacier
Entity mentions are not evidence of legal recognition. Jurisdiction studied is separate from author affiliation country.
Sources
OpenAIRE · Record 1
OpenAlex · Record 1 · Record 2 · Record 3
- Document · http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/rel10090502
- DOI · https://doi.org/10.3390/rel10090502
- OpenAlex · https://openalex.org/W2970702188
Documented bibliographic relations
Source-declared references and links; they do not establish legal support or UGLC qualification. Up to 20 outgoing references are displayed.
- openalex:w1507201798 · CITES
- openalex:w1575678497 · CITES
- openalex:w1579058993 · CITES
- openalex:w2016205204 · CITES
- openalex:w2049152304 · CITES
- Nature as a legal person · CITES
- openalex:w2273072161 · CITES
- openalex:w2346148565 · CITES
- openalex:w2403897108 · CITES
- openalex:w2432213227 · CITES
- openalex:w2504015727 · CITES
- openalex:w2504746907 · CITES
- openalex:w2566837039 · CITES
- At the Intersection of the Sacred and the Legal: Rights for Nature in Uttarakhand, India · CITES
- Creating legal rights for rivers: Lessons from Australia, New Zealand, and India · CITES
- Rights of Nature: Rivers That Can Stand in Court · CITES
- Juristic personhood for sacred natural sites: A potential means for protecting nature · CITES
- Living in Harmony with Nature? A Critical Appraisal of the Rights of Mother Earth in Bolivia · CITES
- openalex:w2912223252 · CITES
- openalex:w2915806610 · CITES
33 incoming references within the detected corpus
Documentary field provenance
Source-backed values and values with unresolved provenance are kept separately. Bibliographic provenance validates no legal claim.
- Title
- Documentary source reported
- Publication
- Documentary source reported
- Authors
- Documentary source reported
- Document type
- Documentary source reported
- Jurisdiction
- Studied subject derived from explicit documentary context
- Court
- Not recorded
- Issuing authority
- Not recorded
- Publisher
- Not recorded
- DOI
- Documentary source reported
- ISBN
- Not recorded
- Official identifier
- Not recorded
- Source URL
- Documentary source reported
- Source-reported status
- Not recorded
- Amendment / repeal
- Not recorded
Cite this reference
Kelly D. Alley. River Goddesses, Personhood and Rights of Nature: Implications for Spiritual Ecology. 2019. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel10090502
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APA, Chicago, ISO 690: bibliographic formats using available fields. OSCOLA / Bluebook: structured data only; full legal citation compliance is not claimed without verification of required elements.
- APA
- Kelly D. Alley. (2019). River Goddesses, Personhood and Rights of Nature: Implications for Spiritual Ecology. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel10090502
- Chicago
- Kelly D. Alley. River Goddesses, Personhood and Rights of Nature: Implications for Spiritual Ecology. 2019. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel10090502
- ISO 690
- Kelly D. Alley. River Goddesses, Personhood and Rights of Nature: Implications for Spiritual Ecology. 2019. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel10090502
UDTR Global Rights of Nature Legal Library. River Goddesses, Personhood and Rights of Nature: Implications for Spiritual Ecology. Documentary record: https://www.declarationuniverselledesdroitsdelarbre.org/global-rights-of-nature-radar/reference/r-95e6a9a1d9a5cda246e28aa68aae25d0/ · Last HTTP verification: not performed
Field provenance and record version
Version 35a4ae4425446a95 · udtr-reference-1.1.2
- Title
- DOAJ · 2026-11-10T00:19:16.301641+00:00
DOAJ · source · 2026-11-09T19:04:47.863530+00:00 - Authors
- DOAJ · 2026-11-10T00:19:16.301641+00:00
DOAJ · source · 2026-11-09T19:04:47.863530+00:00
Multiple reported values; disagreement retained. - Year
- DOAJ · 2026-11-10T00:19:16.301641+00:00
DOAJ · source · 2026-11-09T19:04:47.863530+00:00 - Identifiers
- DOAJ · 2026-11-10T00:19:16.301641+00:00
DOAJ · source · 2026-11-09T19:04:47.863530+00:00
Multiple reported values; disagreement retained. - Source URL
- DOAJ · source · 2026-11-09T19:04:47.863530+00:00
OpenAIRE · source · 2026-11-09T19:06:56.119945+00:00
Multiple reported values; disagreement retained. - Source-reported author ORCID
- OpenAlex · source · 2026-11-10T16:58:51.170709+00:00
History tracks record metadata and does not certify the state of the law.
463611b2c2cc7b67 · 2026-11-10T00:19:16.301641+00:00
9d95db7dc6fb658a · 2026-11-10T00:19:16.301641+00:00
4bc42a71ffcb0aa4 · 2026-11-10T00:19:16.301641+00:00
1a27ee3977857485 · 2026-11-10T16:58:51.170709+00:00
35a4ae4425446a95 · 2026-11-10T16:58:51.170709+00:00
Research dossiers and documentary relations
IN ·
Source roles
Discovery source · http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/rel10090502
Bibliographic / original publication source · https://doi.org/10.3390/rel10090502
Discovery source · https://openalex.org/W2970702188
An authority link alone does not verify a legal claim. Abstracts and full texts remain subject to their source terms.
Documentary status
Relevance pending
Library
This identity is not yet included in the Legal Library.