Ethics in Place: A Symposium on Indigenous Peoples and the Future of Principled Democracy

2020-2021

How do we take steps toward a renewed democracy wherein bedrock principles of fairness and honor anchor our common humanity? One starting point is to address Indigenous land claims and place-based sensibilities in a sustained and forward-looking manner. As even school children know, our nation is built on shifting sand, the unstable ground of theft and broken promises, including with regard to religious freedom. Many ethical systems and religious traditions describe the precarity of such edifices, admonishing us to interrogate our foundations lest things fall apart under pressure. This year-long symposium starts from such admonishments in order to explore ways forward with regard to shoring up our democracy, intentionally foregrounding Indigenous claims to sovereignty and the challenges they pose.

Ethics in Place is the first in a new symposium series hosted by the Walter H. Capps Center for the Study of Ethics, Religion, and Public Life. With this symposium series, we seek to maximize the potential of internet-based event programming by hosting more speakers and events than typical of in-person programming, enabling deep engagement with our themes.

10/13/2020

From the Beginning: Origin Narratives and Place-Based Ethics, with Kaleikoa Ka'eo

11/12/2020

Names, Naming, and the Mascot Controversies, with Carla Fredericks

12/1/2020

Indigenous Communities and Intersectional Environmental Ethics, with Kyle Whyte and David Pellow

1/25/2021

Repatriation as a Human Right, with Walter Eco-Hawk, Angela Riley, and Edward Halealoha Ayau

2/11/2021

Protecting Sacred Land, with Suzan Shown Harjo and Michael McNally

3/4/2021

Implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, with Gregory Bigler and Kristen Carpenter

4/20/2021

Sacred Summits to Frontline Actions: An Evening with Pua Case and Chief Caleen Sisk

4/27/2021

Land Back and Ethics in Place: A Conversation with Nick Tilsen