Power, place, and peoplehood in Chikashshiyaakni': the role of “religion” at Federal Indian Boarding Schools in the Chickasaw Homeland (1799-1837)

Thesis

This dissertation explores the theoretical limitations of contemporary religious studies by tracing the dynamics of power connected to knowledge production at the first Federal Indian Boarding Schools in the Chickasaw Homeland (1799-1837). In critically analyzing the prevailing ‘substantialist’ and ‘situationalist’ paradigms within religious studies, this dissertation reveals their shortcomings in acknowledging the relationships between Indigenous peoples and their homelands as real.

The substantialist perspective perceives a universal phenomenon called “religion,” emphasizing common manifestations across societies while positing an innate inclination towards the sacred. Conversely, situationalist approaches emphasize the role of discourse and intentionality in constructing meaning. Both paradigms fail to adequately address the complex ontic and epistemic relations between Indigenous peoples and their ancestral territories, reducing them to symbolic representations.

Drawing on insights from critical Indigenous studies, this dissertation proposes a more nuanced understanding of place that centers Indigenous relationships with land as material, embodied, and interconnected beyond essentialized categories. It critiques contemporary scholarly works on the role of “religion” at Federal Indian Boarding Schools among Southeastern Indians for perpetuating panhuman assumptions and dualistic frameworks that separate spiritual beliefs from material practices, echoing the perspectives of the earliest Protestant missionaries to the Chickasaws in the 1700s. By foregrounding the affective, gendered, and land-based tactics employed by Protestant missionaries operating mission schools in the Chickasaw Homeland, this dissertation challenges prevailing assumptions, calling for a more holistic approach to studying the intersections of peoplehood and place within settler-colonial contexts.

Through original archival research, this thesis provides a nuanced and comprehensive analysis of the experiences of Chickasaw children enrolled at the first Federal Indian Boarding Schools in their homeland. Highlighting the strategies employed by Chickasaw pupils to maintain their homeland relations and resist assimilation, it offers valuable insights into the broader dynamics of colonialism and Indigenous resistance during the 18th and 19th centuries.

Authors: Tully, TM

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-ryvxkodxd
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: critical Indigenous studies; Civilization Fund Act of 1819; Southeastern Indians (America); social constructivism; blood quantum; place and space; U.S. Plan of Civilization; science and religion; Indian Removal Act of 1830; mutual improvement school; Federal Indian Boarding Schools; Indigenous religion; U.S. Early Republic; American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions; Native American and Indigenous Studies; Protestant mission schools; Mircea Eliade; Timothy Fitzgerald; Five "Civilized" Tribes; Joseph Lancaster; critical study of religion; Lancasterian system of education; Chickasaw Nation; Clifford Geertz; religion and nature; Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK); Jedidiah Morse; critical 'religion'; ecology and religion; worldview studies; feminist new materialisms; Jonathan Z. Smith
• Subjects: Boarding schools--United States; Federal Indian Boarding Schools; Missionaries; American Indian . . .; Indigenous peoples; Joseph Lancaster; Chickasaw Indians; Cosmovision; Religious institutions; Indian Removal, 1813-1903; Chickasaw law; Indians of North America; Older Chickasaw Indians; Chickasaw girls; mutual improvement schools; critical study of 'religion'; Federal aid to Indians; Federal-Indian trust relationship; Chickasaw language; Protestant mission schools; Trail of Tears, 1838-1839; Religious education of children; Traditional ecological knowledge; Language and languages--Study and teaching--Religious aspects--Christianity