Concluding our Holy Ground series on May 7, we will hear from Sarah Augustine, a Pueblo (Tewa) descendant and the author of The Land Is Not Empty: Following Jesus in Dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery (Herald Press, 2021).
Augustine describes the Doctrine of Discovery as “a theological, philosophical and legal framework that gave Christian governments the moral and legal right to invade and seize Indigenous lands and dominate Indigenous peoples … setting the stage for colonization, as well as the enslavement of African people by Europeans.” Augustine will guide us on a journey away from this Eurocentric worldview and toward an Indigenous view of interdependency and a return to a planet that sustains all life.
Sarah Augustine is co-founder and Executive Director of the Dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery Coalition. She is also the co-founder of Suriname Indigenous Health Fund (SIHF), where she has worked in relationship with vulnerable Indigenous Peoples since 2005. She has represented the interests of Indigenous community partners to their own governments, as well as a variety of international bodies including the United Nations, the World Health Organization, and a host of corporate interests. She has taught at Heritage University, Central Washington University, and Goshen College. Along with her husband and son, Sarah lives in the Yakima Valley of Washington.