Recent scholarship on religion emphasizes the importance of looking beyond “belief”—a key facet of Protestant Christianity—when studying historical and contemporary religious practice. In addition to examining objects, this includes considering sacred land and space, embodiment, and ritual practice. This talk with Sarah E. Dees, Ph.D., discusses the efforts of Smithsonian researchers to document aspects of Native American religious materiality from 1870 to 1910, anticipating the “material turn” in Religious Studies that would come a century later. Smithsonian researchers studied Indigenous cultures throughout the United States, gathering data and objects from dozens of communities. However, this was also an era in which the U.S. Federal Government prohibited traditional Native American religious practices. This talk discusses the tensions engaged in this research and its complicated legacy.

Her chapter, “Native American Religions:” from the Oxford Encyclopedia of Religion in America, will be especially helpful for students or anyone attending the talk with a limited background in the study of Native American Religions.

Please register to attend this virtual event. 

The Religious Studies Speaker Series is made possible by a grant from Oakton’s Educational Foundation.