Outcome Documents for
200 Years of Johnson v. M’Intosh (JvM): Indigenous Responses to the Religious Foundations of Racism
This website is the official archive of the outcome publications from the Henry J. Luce Foundation Grant Funded project “200 Years of Johnson v. M’Intosh (JvM): Indigenous Responses to the Religious Foundations of Racism". Professor Philip P. Arnold was the PI on this project which ran from 2022-2024. Project activities included a conference, podcasts, and various types of publications.
Summary #
“200 Years of Johnson v. M’Intosh (JvM): Indigenous Responses to the Religious Foundations of Racism,” is a collaborative initiative made possible through relationships developed over 30 years between academic and Indigenous communities. At its core, the project seeks to interrogate and critically examine connections between the Doctrine of Christian Discovery (DOCD), the Catholic Papal Bulls that undergird the Doctrine, and the Doctrine’s pernicious influence on United States Indian Law today.
The 200th anniversary of JvM provides an excellent moment to challenge the theology and jurisprudence of DOCD and this critical Supreme Court decision. The project will deliver a range of digital products and written works combined with a host of public outreach activities to raise awareness about the harmful impacts of the DOCD and provide support for a global movement of Indigenous People’s that seek to repudiate it.
Christian Control of Women and Mother Earth: The Doctrine of Discovery and the Doctrine of Male Domination
Wagner links church patriarchy and the Doctrine of Discovery to colonial violence, calling for Indigenous rematriation to restore women and the Earth.
Sally Roesch Wagner
Baltic Religion: The Sacred Things
Trinkauskaite explores Baltic sacred traditions and sutartinės, linking domestic deities and revivalist practice to collective ethics beyond hierarchy.
Eglutė Trinkauskaitė
Ellen B. Cutler
Hindu Political Theology: Beyond Hindutva’s Political Monotheism
Somayajula reads Hindutva as political theology, showing how Hindu nationalism flattens religious diversity and urging a more inclusive Hindu identity.
Pranay Somayajula
Schools, Teachers, and Teacher Educators: Education Through the Disruption of White Supremacy
Radhakrishnan examines how U.S. schooling reproduces white supremacy and identifies teacher education strategies to disrupt curriculum, instruction, and policy.
Ritu Radhakrishnan
A Preface to Challenging the Justifications of Domination Through Religion: “We Were Planting Corn, and They Were Planting Crosses”
Preface to a special issue examining Christian Discovery’s role in white supremacy, law, and education, with decolonial paths grounded in Indigenous justice.
Philip P. Arnold
Sandra Bigtree
Adam DJ Brett
Using the Doctrine of Discovery to Increase Shared Language and Conceptual Frameworks Between Black and Indigenous Feminist Organizing
Nahar argues Doctrine of Discovery can build shared language between Black and Indigenous feminisms, strengthening solidarity against settler colonial power.
Sarah Nahar
“Engineering Marvel”: Towards Resisting the Affective Politics of Erie Canal Heritage
Nagle critiques Erie Canal heritage marketing, showing how engineered marvel obscures Haudenosaunee dispossession and calls settlers to affective resistance.
Danielle S. Nagle
Charting the Doctrine in the Colonial Archive: Papal Bulls and the Translation of the ‘Discovery’ Purpose
Modrow shows how papal bulls transformed crusade theology into global colonial strategy, legitimizing Indigenous dispossession and imperial expansion.
Sebastian Modrow
Other Forms of Dwelling: A Dalit – Feminist Perspective
Lakshmi frames Dalit feminist values alongside Indigenous frameworks to show alternative forms of dwelling, relation, and resistance beyond colonial modernity.
Shrutika Lakshmi
Dismantling White Supremacy in the Classroom and Beyond
Jimenez shows criminal justice education must confront white supremacy by centering race, power and oppression to transform teaching and policies now.
Celinet Duran Jimenez
