Regenerating Relationship with the More-than-Human World in Ireland: Ecopsychology, Spirituality, and Nature’s Rights

Faculty: Mary Gomes

Psychology

College of Humanities, Social Sciences, and the Arts

In 2023, Ireland's Oireachtas (National Parliament) endorsed a plan for a national referendum to enshrine rights of nature in the Irish constitution. If the amendment passes, Ireland could become the first European country to recognize rights of nature at the constitutional level. This development presents a unique opportunity to explore how mythic traditions can support our relationship to the natural world. Ireland’s ancient cultural frameworks regarding nature and spirit persisted into recorded history, as seen in its system of Brehon law. Mythic traditions in Ireland abound with connections between specific aspects of the landscape and otherworldly presences, as seen in the traditions of “fairy trees” that have, on occasion, led to the re-routing of roads. From an ecopsychological perspective, the rights-of-nature movement presents a unique opportunity for the regeneration of the Irish cultural connection to its landscape. It provides a way to heal from the generational trauma that has arisen from colonization, famine, and related political events. This paper explores how: 1) highlighting nature-connected cultural traditions can effectively communicate the concept of rights of nature, and reciprocally, 2) the rights-of-nature movement can revitalize connections with nature that draw on a sense of the sacred. Irish culture allows us to see the layering of colonial attitudes atop the foundation of an indigenous relationship with nature. It thus stands out as a ‘bridge culture’ between indigenous and non-indigenous frameworks, giving those of us from non-indigenous cultures an illuminating glimpse of the possibilities that lie beneath the colonized surfaces of our lives.