Papal Bulls
Papal Bulls created the foundation for the Doctrine of Discovery.
Repudiations
Repuidations of the Doctrine of Discovery by religious organizations and faith communities
Recent posts
The Declaration of Independence: “Merciless Indian Savages”…and More
Robert J. Miller examines how disputes over Indigenous lands and the Doctrine of Discovery shaped grievances in the Declaration of Independence.
Destroying the Doctrine of Discovery
Robert J. Miller examines the Doctrine of Discovery’s continuing effects and outlines five strategies for dismantling its influence on Indigenous rights.
A Comment On NARF’s Amicus Curiae Brief Filed on Behalf of the National Congress of American Indians and the Inter Tribal Association of Arizona, LLC, in Support of the Tohono O’odham Nation Permalink
Steven T. Newcomb examines the contradictions in the Native American Rights Fund’s amicus brief opposing construction of a U.S.-Mexico border wall on the Tohono O’odham Reservation.
A Right of Discovery? Permalink
Steven T. Newcomb traces Chief Justice Marshall’s “right of discovery” in Johnson v. McIntosh back to the 1496 Letters Patent to John Cabot and its command to subjugate, occupy, and possess.
A Comment on Making All the World America
Peter d’Errico comments on Timothy Bowers Vasko’s Making All the World America: Native Information and the Doctrine of Discovery (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2026), in conversation with Steven T. Newcomb’s review.
Book Review of Making All the World America
Steven T. Newcomb reviews Timothy Bowers Vasko’s Making All the World America: Native Information and the Doctrine of Discovery (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2026).
Domination Chronicles: Where Are We Now? Permalink
Steven Newcomb and Peter d’Errico ask why domination must be treated as the beginning of serious inquiry, not the end of the conversation.
S06E12: How the Revolutionary War Reshaped Haudenosaunee Governance Permalink
Tom Porter discusses how colonization and the Revolutionary War reshaped Mohawk and Haudenosaunee leadership, identity, and survival.
S06E11: What Changes When Earth Is Your Mother Permalink
Haudenosaunee teachings connect ceremony, matrilineal leadership, the Thanksgiving Address, and a living relationship with Mother Earth.
Domination Chronicles: Tribal Sovereignty 101 Permalink
Steve Newcomb and Peter d’Errico unpack tribal sovereignty, limited sovereignty, federal anti-Indian law, and the language trap of domination.
S06E10: How Colonial Law Shaped Modern Data Extraction Permalink
Jordan Loewen-Colon traces how colonial property law survives in AI systems, data extraction, platform consent, and Indigenous data sovereignty.
JCRT Publishes The Second of Two Special Issues from the 2023 Mapping the Doctrine of Discovery Conference
JCRT publishes the second of two special issues from the 2023 Mapping the Doctrine of Discovery Conference, with scholarship on history, law, and justice.
Domination Chronicles: Untrustworthy Trust - Domination, Fear, and Fearlessness Permalink
Newcomb and d’Errico examine the federal Indian law trust doctrine as a euphemism for domination rather than a protective obligation.
Vol. 25 No. 1 (Spring 2026): Challenging the Justifications of Domination through Law: Indigenous Resistance and the Undoing of Christian Empire Permalink
Part 2: Indigenous Resistance and the Undoing of Christian Empire This entry connects Doctrine of Discovery scholarship, Indigenous sovereignty, law…
Conclusion: Dismantling the Doctrine of Christian Discovery Cultivating Right Relations Permalink
The conclusion calls for decolonization beyond legal reform, centering Indigenous law, land return, and right relations to resist Christian Discovery.