The conference The Religious Origins of White Supremacy: Johnson v. M’Intosh and the Doctrine of Christian Discovery represented a unique opportunity. Indigenous leaders, scholars, and activists from 20 countries gathered together with non-Indigenous peoples for a collaborative dialogue around three themes 1) the Doctrine of Christian Discovery, 2) the legacy of Johnson v M’Intosh; and 3) the religious origins of white supremacy. The conference intentionally incorporated the arts with two powerful indigenous performances In the Court of the Conqueror and Tēnei Te Põ Nau Mai Te Ao: Ancient Māori Puppetry Healing Traumatic Histories. Additionally art and poetry were present in many sessions.
Conference organizers Prof. Philip P. Arnold, Sandy Bigtree (Mohawk Nation), and Adam DJ Brett, established the conference methodology as following the Two Row Wampum treaty. This 1613 treaty between the Haudenosaunee and the Dutch is represented in a wampum belt where each nation is a row of purple beads traveling side by side down the river of live. Each one not interfering with one another but moving forward in symmetrical and mutual directions living in harmony with the natural world.
Acknowledging the singular and unique nature of this gathering Syracuse University and Indigenous Values Initiative partnered with Good Faith Media to produce a podcast which would highlight the conference themes and be the opening presentation of conference outcomes. This podcast hosted are Mitch Randall (Mvskoke Creek) and his son Tanner Randall (Mvskoke Creek). We were excited to have Tanner a recent graduate from Dartmouth’s Native Studies program as the host because we envision this podcast as a teaching resource for undergraduate courses. Our hope is that having a recent undergraduate as the host will help make the podcast more engaging and useful to an undergraduate and other audiences new to the conversation. We are so excited to hear how people are able to use this podcast in their teaching and organizing.
Finally this podcast represents the first of many educational resources that will be coming out of this conference which will hopefully be useful not only for challenging the legacy of Johnson v. M’Intosh but also dismantling the Doctrine of Christian Discovery, and further challenging white supremacy through understanding its longer history.
Credits
- Hosts: Mitch and Tanner Randall, Good Faith Media.
- Executive producers: Mitch Randall, Good Faith Media; Philip P. Arnold and Sandy Bigtree, Indigenous Values Initiative; and Adam DJ Brett, Syracuse University and American Indian Law Alliance.
- Producer: Cliff Vaughn.
- Editor: David Pang.
- Music: Pond5.
- Production assistance: American Indian Law Alliance.
- Sponsors: The Henry Luce Foundation; Syracuse University; Indigenous Values Initiative; American Indian Law Alliance; American Indian Community House; Good Faith Media; Tonatierra; and Toward Our Common Public Life. We appreciate your support.
Resources
- Here is the press release
- Podcast main page
- Listen to the podcast on Megaphone, Spotify or Apple.
- Transcripts posted on https://podcast.doctrineofdiscovery.org/.