Episode 104: World religions, shall we not?

Transcript for Episode 104:

PDF of all this silly-smart, smart-silly!

Shownotes for Episode 104:

We talked more about the world religions paradigm introduced in E103: Major religions? Minor religions? Must we?. In this very special episode, however, we focused on the material consequences of defining religion, using the US and Indigenous and Native traditions as a case study.

We had a number of keywords this time! Find them in our glossary. They were:

• world religions, major religions, Native / Indigenous religions, hegemony, agency, social constructs

Primary Sources:

• In this week’s Primary Sources, both Ilyse and Megan talked about how being from minoritized religious communities means they think twice about answering questions about religion—or have stock answers at the ready in order to placate folks.

• In what ways do you feel religion’s definitions butting up against you? Tell us on Twitter!

Story Time:

• Megan’s close reading this episode was Tisa Wenger’s “We are Guaranteed Freedom.”

  • Here’s the excerpt Megan read for us:

    • “Pueblo leaders of the 1920s successfully employed the American discourse on religion to legitimize and defend Pueblo identity and ways of life…in the process, they subtly changed the ways in which they talked about their traditional practices...by defining themselves as the defenders of Pueblo religion and using the tools of the American legal system…Pueblo leaders of the 1920s shaped a new traditionalism based partly on American categories of religion and religious freedom” (Wenger 90).

  • That article is paywalled, so if you’re not on a university campus, you may not have access! Boo, hiss.

  • Do not despair, nerds! Wenger is a prolific scholar and we have other pieces more easily accessible via the Internet and your local library:

    • Her website is comprehensive and has a lot of writings there. Check it out here!

    • We Have a Religion: The 1920s Pueblo Indian Dance Controversy and American Religious Freedom is the book project version of the article Megan cited in Story Time. It’s really good.

    • On religious freedom and its lack of protection for Native lands: “Why Religious Freedom Won’t Protect Native American Sacred Lands”

    • Podcast with The Religious Studies Project, “How Religious Freedom Makes Religion,” all about legal categories in the US and how it defines religion for all of us

Your homework for Episode 104:

Staying on theme, Ilyse and Megan assigned work related to Native and Indigenous religions, history, and laws allowing for (or barring!) religious practice.

Ilyse seconded Tisa Wenger’s work and added:

• Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States (2015)

• Brandi Denison, Ute Land Religion in the American West, 1879-2009 (2017)

Megan suggested:

• Courtney Lewis, Sovereign Entrepreneurs: Cherokee Small-Business Owners and the Making of Economic Sovereignty (2019)

• Thomas King, The Truth About Stories: A Native Narrative (2008)

• Googling video of Native protests at Mauna Kea and Standing Rock. How is “religion” showing up in those places?

• Debbie Reese, on why land statements/acknowledgements are a good start—but not enough .

We want to know: whose land are you on? Find out here. Once you know: how can you use your capital, your time, your influence to lift up Native and Indigenous folks?

We also said we’d make sure you could connect to and with Native authors, scholars, podcasts, and other media. Here is a decidedly non-exhaustive list—but a place to start.

• mediaINDIGENA — Interactive Indigenous Insight. Podcasts, posts, news, Twitter.

• Abel Gomez pairs with Andrew Mark Henry at Religion for Breakfast to talk Indigenous Religions in a short video, here.

• Kim TallBear is a leading scholar y’all should know. Her book, Native American DNA: Tribal Belonging and the False Promise of Genetic Science is a must read. Her research project is here.

• Adrienne Keane and Matika Wilbur have a podcast called All My Relations. It’s a must-listen. Go subscribe.

  • Dr. Keane, a professor at Brown University, created Native Appropriations, which is worth a look and

  • Wilbur created Project 562, which is a stunning project centered on “photographing over 562 federally recognized tribes in The United States.”

• Rebecca Nagle is a prominent Cherokee writer and podcaster of This Land. It’s fantastic. Go subscribe.

• We recorded this episode ahead of the unfolding events led by the Wet’suwet’en, a First Nations people whose unceded territory is the site of protest currently. These protests are aimed to block the Coastal GasLink Pipeline, in what many would call British Columbia, Canada. We urge you to read up on this ongoing issue; while many news outlets are covering it, we recommend the APTN (Aboriginal Peoples Television Network) series of articles.