Scott Manning Stevens

Indigenous sovereignty and The Tempest

A reading list to consider further the question of Indigenous sovereignty in The Tempest.

The Doctrine of Discovery

A brief history of how the Doctrine of Discovery became legal precedent for the seizure of Native lands across the world.

Indigenous sovereignty

Scott Manning Stevens dives into the history of sovereignty and indigeneity, defining the relationship these concepts have to the past, present, and future of Native peoples' self-determination across North America.

Race and indigeneity

When teaching about indigeneity and the rise of that term in the early modern period, we must aim for a level of disambiguation concerning the term "race."

Reading the Doctrine of Discovery

Reading suggestions for a deeper dive into the centuries of jurisprudence for stealing Native lands set by an obscure early modern religious decree.

The legacy of the Doctrine of Discovery

How an obscure piece of Renaissance era religious doctrine—the Doctrine of Discovery—infiltrated the United States’ legal system and justifies the seizure of Native lands to this day.

The resources of sovereignty on Caliban’s island

Close reading opportunities to engage students in discussions of sovereignty and self-determination in Shakespeare's The Tempest.

The false conflation of indigeneity and race

It is imperative that, while teaching about indigeneity in our classrooms, we dissect how the term came to be and how it is often conflated with race. Using texts by Richard Hakluyt and Sir Thomas Browne help to demonstrate the conflation to students.