JustBooks with Andrew Stone Porter

JustBooks: The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History

Join us for a six-week book study of Ned Blackhawk’s The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History, led by Professor Andrew Stone Porter. The series will begin on Tuesday, July 11, and run on consecutive Tuesdays through August 15, from 7:00 – 8:30 p.m. ET.

In this thought-provoking work, Blackhawk challenges the customary narrative of European colonists’ conquest of North America as swift and inevitable. He offers a new perspective by emphasizing the “encounter” between Indigenous Americans and Europeans rather than the “discovery” of America by the latter. Through Blackhawk’s retelling of American history, we will learn about the power of women in matrilineal Iroquois societies, the recognition of gender fluidity among “two-spirit” persons in Ojibwe and other indigenous nations, the centrality of Native peoples in the events leading up to the American Revolution, and much more.

While Blackhawk’s book may be challenging, participants need not be intimidated, as Professor Andrew Stone Porter will break up the text into digestible segments and facilitate discussions around central questions. These questions explore what happens when we suspend the assumption that white people are history’s principal protagonists. Together we will learn from hearing stories of indigenous power, cultures, hopes, and dreams and how this history can inform our contemporary responses to demands for justice and reparations from American Indian nations. The book study will also consider how we can understand our contemporary responsibilities beyond familiar Christian frameworks of guilt, blame, expiation, and redemption. Hearing the past differently can open up new futures for us.

Professor Andrew Stone Porter is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Theology and Religious Studies and a Louisville Institute Postdoctoral Fellow at Bellarmine University. He holds a Ph.D. in Religion, Ethics, and Society from Vanderbilt University. He has published his work in reputable journals such as the Journal of Religious Ethics, the American Journal of Theology and Philosophy, The Other Journal, and the Political Theology Network.

JustFaith Ministries is not carrying this book.

The registration fee is $50 for JustFaith Network members and $75 for non-members. 

Register below and you’ll receive an email with more information.

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JustBooks Interview with Professor Andrew Stone Porter - Part 1