Save the Date - October 2, 2026: “Indigenous Sovereignty and the Declaration” presented by the Humanities Institute and the Department of Philosophy

Indigenous Sovereignty and the Declaration

Conference

Friday, October 2, 2026

8:30 am - 5:00 pm

Open to All

On Friday, October 2, 2026, Fairfield University will host a one-day conference titled Indigenous Sovereignty and the Declaration: Revisiting 1776 in a Jesuit Context.  The event is made possible by a Humanities Institute Program Grant (with additional support from the Indigeneity Initiative under the Office of Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging, the Arts Institute, the Department of Philosophy, the Department of English, and the Department of Sociology and Anthropology).  The event is organized in collaboration with the Yale Group for the Study of Native America and the NYU–Yale American Indian Sovereignty Project.

Held in the days leading up to Indigenous Peoples’ Day, the conference is designed to contribute meaningfully to teaching and reflection around that occasion, by bringing together a distinguished group of scholars and community voices. 

Panels will be chaired by Fairfield's own, Sonya Huber (English), Anna Lawrence (History), Peter Bayers (English), Aaron Bentley (Philosophy), and Carey M. Weber (Art Museum).  

Confirmed speakers are: Ned Blackhawk (Yale University), Sarah Pearsall (Johns Hopkins University), Christina Dickerson (Quinnipiac University), Sandy Grande (University of Connecticut), Samuel Piccolo (Baruch College, CUNY), Scott Pratt (University of Oregon), John Mikhail (Georgetown University), Shoran Waupatuquay Piper (Clan Mother and Tribal Leader, Golden Hill Paugussett Tribal Nation), Melissa Tantaquidgeon Zobel and Susan Meehan (Council of Elders, Mohegan Tribe), Stacy Dufresne (Gladys Tantaquidgeon Museum), Christine Kinealy (Quinnipiac University), Kate Mozier-Tichy (Bridgeport Public Library), Endawnis Spears (Akomawt Educational Initiative, Brown University). 

The program will also feature a screening of the short film Up and Down the River, followed by discussion, and a performance by the Yootay Singers (Mashantucket Pequot Drum Group).

Across panels and presentations, the conference will examine how Indigenous political thought, diplomacy, and historical experience reshape our understanding of 1776 and its legacies.  It will be especially relevant for courses in the humanities, social sciences, law, and related fields, while remaining accessible to students across the University.

Faculty are encouraged to include this event in Fall 2026 syllabi and to consider integrating it into their courses (e.g., as a required or recommended co-curricular activity).  Additional details, including registration information, will be posted in early August.

Below is the conference schedule including speakers & topics:

CONFERENCE PROGRAM

8:30-9:00 Continental Breakfast
9:00-9:15 “Flag Song” performed by the Yootay Singers (Mashantucket Pequot Drum Group)

9:15-9:25 Welcoming Remarks
                • Daniele Botti (Visiting Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Fairfield University)
                • Sunil Purushotham (Director of the Humanities Institute; Associate Professor of History, Fairfield University)
                • Don C. Sawyer III (Vice President of Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging; Associate Professor of Sociology, Fairfield University)

9:25-10:20 “Up and Down the River” Movie Projection and Discussion

                • Melissa Tantaquidgeon Zobel (Mohegan Council of Elders Vice Chair)
                • Susan Meehan (Mohegan Council of Elders Secretary and Justice)
                • Chair: Sonya Huber (Professor of English, Fairfield University)
            Focus: Women’s rights and leadership, and the struggles of the Mohegans during the American Revolution.

10:20-10:30 Clan Mother and Tribal Head Leader, Shoran Piper (Golden Hill Paugussett Tribal Nation), delivers Prayer and Blessing

10:30-12:00 1776 in Context: Indigenous Nations and Revolutionary Narratives
               • Sarah Pearsall (Professor of History, Johns Hopkins University)
               • Ned Blackhawk (Howard R. Lamar Professor of History, Yale University)
               • Christina Dickerson (Associate Professor of History, Quinnipiac University)
               • Chair: Anna Lawrence (Associate Professor of History, Fairfield University)
           Focus: Indigenous political orders before and during the Revolution; treaties, alliances, colonial and imperial entanglements; how Indigenous diplomacy and resistance complicates founding narratives.

1:00-2:15 Indigenous Sovereignty, Settler Power, and Political Order
               • Sandy Grande (Professor of Political Science and Native American and Indigenous Studies, University of Connecticut)
               • Samuel Piccolo (Assistant Professor of Political Science, Baruch College-CUNY)
               • Chair: Peter Bayers (Professor of English, Fairfield University)
           Focus: Indigenous sovereignty within and against U.S. constitutional frameworks; treaty relations, settler governance, and alternative political imaginaries beyond liberal frameworks.

2:15-3:30 Natural Rights, Pragmatism, and Pluralistic Thought
              • John Mikhail (Carroll Professor of Jurisprudence, Georgetown University Law Center)
              • Scott Pratt (Professor and Department Head of Philosophy, University of Oregon)
              • Chair: Aaron Bentley (Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Fairfield University)
          Focus: The Declaration’s moral and political afterlives; natural rights traditions and their tensions; pragmatism, pluralism, and competing visions of American political legitimacy.

3:30-5:00 Curating Sovereignty: Curators’ Role in the Reframing of American History
             • Stacy Dufresne (Curator of the Gladys Tantaquidgeon Museum)
             • Christine Kinealy (Professor of History, Quinnipiac University; Curator of “Indigenous Aid to Ireland during the Great Hunger,” Arnold Bernhard Library, Quinnipiac University)
             • Kate Mozier-Tichy (Librarian, Bridgeport Public Library)
             • Endawnis Spears (Co-Founder of the Akomawt Educational Initiative; Practitioner in Residence for Tribal Engagement, Brown University)
             • Chair: Carey M. Weber (Executive Director of Fairfield University Art Museum)
         Focus: How curatorial practice becomes a site of sovereignty and historical intervention; how museums and libraries can reshape public understandings of American origins by foregrounding Indigenous presence, continuity, and relations across the region, moving beyond narratives of ‘discovery’; how these institutions function as spaces where encounter, authority, and historical meaning are actively redefined.

Many thanks to our Co-Sponsors:

            Office of Diversity, Inclusion and, Belonging

Art Institute

            Department of Philosophy

Department of English

Department of Sociology and Anthropology