Episode 1: Our Opening Conversation
On • Duration 53:28
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In this inaugural episode of *Domination Chronicles*, Steven Newcomb (Shawnee/Lenape) and Peter d'Errico deepen a decades-long dialogue on how systems of domination have shaped U.S. federal Indian law, beginning with the 1823 Johnson v. *McIntosh* decision and its roots in 15th-century the Doctrine of Christian Discovery.
Description
In this inaugural episode of Domination Chronicles, Steven Newcomb (Shawnee/Lenape) and Peter d'Errico deepen a decades-long dialogue on how systems of domination have shaped U.S. federal Indian law, beginning with the 1823 Johnson v. McIntosh decision and its roots in 15th-century "Christian Discovery" doctrines. Their conversation weaves together the story behind Oyate Woyaka---a new PBS film on Lakota language history and revitalization---and a broader critique of how race, gender, language, and worldview mask or perpetuate domination across human societies and the natural world.
Transcript
Resources
- Steve Newcomb on Substack
- Peter d'Errico on Substack
- Oyate Woyaka, the latest film project Steve has worked on, is now showing on PBS.
- Steve's book, Pagans in the Promised Land: Decoding the Doctrine of Christian Discovery (2008) laid bare the religious foundation of US law related to the Original Peoples of the continent.
- Peter wrote the Foreword to Pagans, available on his Substack.
- In 2014, Steve teamed up with Director Sheldon P. Wolfchild to produce a documentary film based on Pagans: The Doctrine of Discovery: Unmasking the Domination Code (on Vimeo).
- Steve maintains a website, Original Free Nations: Cutting-Edge Research for Indigenous Peoples' Liberation, going back to his work with the late Birgil Kills Straight, a Traditional Headman and Elder of the Oglala Lakota Nation, and the Indigenous law Institute.
Citation
Newcomb, Steven T., and Peter d'Errico, cohosts. "Our Opening Conversation." The Domination Chronicles Podcast, October 8, 2025. https://dominationchronicles.com/episodes/e001-opening.
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Episodes
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Play EpsiodeAbout Host
Domination Chronicles Host
Peter d’Errico graduated from Yale Law School in 1968. He was an attorney at Dinébe’iiná Náhiiłna be Agha’diit’ahii, Navajo Legal Services, in Shiprock, 1968-1970.
Steven T. Newcomb (Shawnee/Lenape) has been researching the history of U.S. federal Indian law and policy for four decades.
