Indigenous scholar and author Steven Newcomb will host a discussion Tuesday, March 12, following a screening of the documentary The Doctrine of Discovery: Unmasking the Domination Code.

Directed by Dakota filmmaker Sheldon Wolfchild and co-produced by Newcomb, the documentary is based on Newcomb’s more than 40 years of research and his book Pagans in the Promised Land: Decoding the Doctrine of Christian Discovery.

The film sheds light on the lesser-known history of the Doctrine of Discovery, which through a series of decrees issued by various popes throughout the 15th century allowed early Christians to claim and assert dominance over lands inhabited by non-Christians.

“Basically, what it reveals are the patterns of domination that were brought over to this side of the planet, from a place that was then called Western Christendom,” Newcomb said.

“The documents reveal the claim of a right of domination wherever they would go on the planet. And they would make those assertions that they had the right to ‘take possession of the soil’. But actually, what they were doing, as we now know, is claiming a right of domination over everyone and everything.”

In his research, Newcomb said he works with the Latin-English dictionary to look at the historical records and find patterns of domination in the language that, when translated into English, typically uses more neutral terminology.

“For example, in one of the papal documents, a term meaning domination is translated as governments. So people look at the word governments, and it just seems ordinary, doesn’t seem like domination to them. And that’s how a lot of this has been translated in a manner that has made it impossible to see the patterns of domination and name them correctly,” he said.

“You have to look for certain clues. And you have to have a very discerning eye and a very discerning mind to see all of this. But once you recognize the patterns and identify them, as I’ve done, then you see that in the most ordinary sounding terms, such as civilization, state sovereignty, ascendancy, dominion, property, and empire, they all mean domination.”

Newcomb, of Shawnee and Lenape descent, has long studied and written about issues of Indigenous nations and people. His work explores the contrast between the ecological and spiritual wisdom of original nations and peoples, and the patterns of domination and dehumanization used against Indigenous nations and peoples for centuries because of papal bulls.

While part of an Indigenous Peoples’ delegation, Newcomb met Pope Francis at St. Peter’s Square in 2016 and spent two hours meeting with the archbishop at the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace to advocate for the revocation of 15th-century papal bulls and address the harm caused. He said it has since been addressed in only a “superficial way” with the Roman Catholic Church reluctant to acknowledge the horrific nature of the language used in the papal documents.

Newcomb is now teaching a course on the doctrine of discovery and domination at the Island School of Theology in Denver. Newcomb will discuss the film, his research, and studies surrounding the Doctrine of Discovery following the film screening in the Don Rodzik Moot Court, Law Building, on March 12 from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m. Register here to attend.