Tuesday, Jul 15, 2008

3-25-08 The Christian Roots of the Doctrine of Discovery: Interview with Steven Newcomb

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J. Kehaulani Kauanui interviews with one of the top legal scholars on indigenous issues, Steven Newcomb(Shawnee/Lenape), who is the indigenous law research coordinator at the Sycuan education department of the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation in San Diego County, California. Newcomb is the author of a newly released book, Pagans in the Promised Land: Decoding the Doctrine of Christian Discovery, which provides a provocative challenge to U.S. federal Indian law and policy. His book draws upon major findings in the theory of the human mind (cognitive theory) as a framework for challenging the presumption that the United States has any legitimate claim to "plenary power" over originally free and independent Native nations. Newcomb argues that U.S. federal Indian law and policy are premised on Old Testament narratives of the chosen people and the Promised Land, as exemplified in the 1823 Supreme Court ruling Johnson v. McIntosh that the first "Christian people" to "discover" lands inhabited by "natives, who were heathens," have an ultimate title to dominion over these lands and peoples. Newcomb is the co-founder and co-director of the Indigenous Law Institute, a fellow with the American Indian Policy and Media Initiative at Buffalo State College in New York, and a columnist with the newspaper Indian Country Today.

Posted by Indigenous Politics at 1:12 PM |   

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