In this podcast, an Indigenous woman and a white settler woman — both Anabaptists — uncover the deep structure of colonization that systematically deprives Indigenous Peoples of their human rights today. This deep structure — called the Doctrine of Discovery— is rooted in church doctrines that originated in the15th century and that still justify current laws and policies that justify the removal of land from Indigenous Peoples.
Together, Sarah Augustine and Sheri Hostetler started a Coalition of Anabaptist people of faith that seek to dismantle the Doctrine of Discovery. Sarah is an activist and scholar, the descendant of the Tewa People, and a displaced person. Sheri is a Mennonite pastor in San Francisco and an activist.
The Dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery Podcast is produced in partnership with the Dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery Coalition and Anabaptist World. The views expressed in this podcast do not represent official views of Anabaptist World.
In this episode, Sarah and Sheri talk about Sarah’s “100-year vision” for the Dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery Coalition. Sarah will begin as the full-time Executive Director of the Coalition on July 1.
To contribute to Sarah’s salary campaign, please go here. Every dollar you donate will be matched by Sheri’s congregation, First Mennonite Church of San Francisco, through Indigenous Peoples Day of this year (October 10).
It’s almost summer and many of us will be traveling to the U.S.’s national parks for vacation and recreation. In this episode, Sarah and Sheri talk about how the formation of our national parks, the conservation movement that inspired their formation, and colonization have gone hand in hand. They also talk about how conservation could be decolonized.
For more information:
Link to The Atlantic article, “Return the National Parks to the Tribes” by David Treuer
* https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/05/return-the-national-parks-to-the-tribes/618395/
Statistics from Cultural Survival can be found here.
* https://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/conservation-policy-and-indigenous-peoples
In this episode, Sarah and Sheri talk about Sarah’s experience of serving as chair of the Washington State Redistricting Commission and the impact of that redistricting process on Native people.
In this episode, Sarah and Sheri talk about why renewable energy and electric cars and green growth won’t save us – and how these things are linked to the same extractive, dominating worldview of the Doctrine of Discovery.
For more information:
In this episode, Sarah and Sheri talk with activist, author and Dine leader Mark Charles, who wrote Unsettling Truths: The Ongoing, Dehumanizing Legacy of the Doctrine of Discovery with co-author Soong-Chan Rah. For two years, Mark led an Indigenous and settler church in Denver before moving to live on the Navajo reservation with his family for 11 years. While on the reservation, Mark became exposed to, began studying and eventually started teaching about the Doctrine of Discovery. But Creator also placed on his heart a desire for truth and conciliation. Six years ago, Mark and his family moved from the Navajo Nation to Washington, D.C., and in 2020 he ran as an independent candidate for President of the United States.
For more information:
In this episode Sarah and Sheri talk about how Indigenous cosmologies have helped form Sarah’s Christian faith and how we both have adopted a creation-centered approach to being an Anabaptist Christian.
Sarah and Sheri talk with Katerina Friesen. Katerina was the lead editor for an educational resource called “Stories of Repair” that provides case studies on how individuals and communities have engaged in restorative justice in response to the Doctrine of Discovery DofD). For anyone who has ever asked “But what do I do?” when hearing about the structural oppression caused by the DoD, this podcast – and the “Stories of Repair” booklet are for you.
For more information:
To learn more about “Stories of Repair” and get a copy, go to https://dofdmenno.org/stories-of-repair/.
https://www.saveoakflatws.com
To learn more about our work, please read Sarah’s book, The Land is Not Empty: Following Jesus in Dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery, published by Herald Press in 2021.
In case the links from the previous episode didn’t work here they are one more time.
Sources:
Chapter 7 of Sarah’s book This Land is Not Empty: Following Jesus in Dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery.
As always, for more information please consult dofdmenno.org and Sarah’s book.
To make a one-time donation to the Dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery Coalition to fund a full-time salary for Sarah, please go here. Please designate your donation for “Sarah’s salary campaign.”
To find out how much money you make annually from mining, check out this blog post from First Mennonite Church of San Francisco. If you are able to make an annual pledge, email the Coalition with that amount at [email protected].
In this episode, Sarah pulls back the curtain to reveal how colonization is continuing — legally — through economic development projects (including “sustainable” development), international aid and through our own financial investments. We also discuss what people of faith can do about this.
Sources:
Have you ever had a question you wanted to ask a Native American but were too embarrassed to ask? In this recurring episode, Sarah answers your questions. In this episode, questions including:
Sources:
If you want to submit a question or two for a future episode, please do so at [email protected].
