The Dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery Podcast

Uncover the deep structure of colonization that systematically deprives Indigenous Peoples of their human rights today.

About the show

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.

Episodes

  • Episode 3: The Doctrine of Discovery and Me, Part Two

    July 12th, 2021  |  Season 1  |  35 mins 1 sec

    Sarah and Sheri continue to explore how Sarah discovered the Doctrine of Discovery and its impact on her life. Sarah tells the story about how she ended up working with the Indigenous Wayana people from the Guyana Shield in South America, who were being poisoned by mercury from gold mining and had no legal recourse to end this, due to the Doctrine of Discovery. She also tells the story of her father, who grew up in a religious boy's school, and how she connected his story to that of thousands of Indigenous children who were placed in Indian boarding schools.

    Sources:
    chapter 4 in Sarah’s book, This Land is Not Empty: Following Jesus in Dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery.
    https://www.mennomedia.org/9781513808314/the-land-is-not-empty/
    Video library of Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
    For more information, go to dofdmenno.org, the website of the Dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery Coalition.

  •

    Episode 2: The Doctrine of Discovery and Me

    June 29th, 2021  |  Season 1  |  38 mins 29 secs

    During this episode, Sarah and Sheri explore how Sarah “discovered” the Doctrine of Discovery and its traumatic impact on her life and on the lives of other Indigenous people. They talk about how this trauma didn’t just happen but was intentionally planned by the U.S. government through different eras of federal Indian policy that systematically dispossessed Native people of their land.

  •

    Episode 1: Why Are We Doing This Podcast?

    June 1st, 2021  |  Season 1  |  32 mins 25 secs

    In this introduction episode hosts Sheri and Sarah share about themselves, their faith, their friendship and why they continue to work at dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery. Stay tuned every other week for new episodes.