Episode 707: RELIGION & ADOPTION: ICWA with Dr. Courtney Lewis
Transcript!
PDF transcript. Also available via our Buzzsprout page.
Shownotes
(because citations are political)
This is the third of our five episode series on RELIGION & ADOPTION.
This episode is about the ICWA, what it tells us about religion and adoption broadly, and how it shows us that white Christian supremacy is primary.
We were so grateful to have Dr. Courtney Lewis, Crandall Family Associate Professor of Anthropology at Duke University and director and founder of the Duke Native American Studies Initiative, enrolled member of Cherokee Nation, join us.
Dr. Lewis talked to us about
the removal of Native children into expressly and explicitly white Christian families
how one third to two thirds of all Native children on reservations were removed and redistributed
how explicit the campaign was to remove Native children to white Christian families so that culture could die—and so could claims to the land
the (genocidal) stats on how the US state used Native children as a way to break Native families and cultures
her own personal relationship to ICWA — her dad helped write it!
One of the things Dr. Lewis asked of our nerds—that’s you, dear listener!—is to uplift Native voices with simple actions. She recommended everyone whip out their insta and TikTok, and follow Native content creators. Here’s some of the ones she suggests (we’re using their handles!):
Homework
Timeline of the ICWA (PDF)
Short Vox documentary (above!): How the US stole thousands of Native American children
Dawn Petersen, Indians in the Family: Adoption and the Politics of Antebellum Expansion (HUP: 2017)
Ashley L. Landers, Sharon M. Danes, Avery R. Campbell, Sandy White Hawk, “Abuse after abuse: The recurrent maltreatment of American Indian children in foster care and adoption,” Child Abuse & Neglect, Volume 111 (2021)
Deborah Thibeault and Michael S. Spencer, The Indian Adoption Project and the Profession of Social Work. Social Service Review 93:4 (2019): 804-832.
Courtney Lewis, Sovereign Entrepreneurs: Cherokee Small-Business Owners and the Making of Economic Sovereignty (UNC 2019) and her article “Frybread Wars”
Max Perry Mueller, Race and the Making of the Mormon People (2017)
Religion Is Not Done With You
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