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 Access, Belonging, and Community Engagement, the Arts Institute, the Department of Philosophy, the Department of English, the Pre-Law Society, 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 Paugusett Tribal Nation), Melissa Tantaquidgeon Zobel and Susan Meehan (Council of Elders, Mohegan Tribe), Stacy Dufresne (Tantaquidgeon Museum), Christine Kinealy (Quinnipiac University), Kate Mozier-Tichy (Bridgeprt Public Library), and 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). Note: This is an FYE Event for first year students.

**Register for Conference here:

https://forms.gle/RqSLZS63nQqP9xaNA

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 Access, Belonging, and Community Engagement & Associate Professor of Sociology, Fairfield University)

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

Focus: Women’s rights and leadership, and the struggles of the Mohegans during the American Revolution.

• Chair: Sonya Huber (Professor of English, Fairfield University)

• Melissa Tantaquidgeon Zobel (Mohegan Council of Elders Vice Chair)
• Susan Meehan (Mohegan Council of Elders Secretary and Justice)           

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

Focus: Indigenous political orders before and during the Revolution; treaties, alliances, colonial and imperial entanglements; how Indigenous diplomacy and resistance complicates founding narratives.

• Chair: Anna Lawrence (Associate Professor of History, Fairfield University)
• 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)
           
1:00-2:15 Indigenous Sovereignty, Settler Power, and Political Order

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

2:15-3:30 Natural Rights, Pragmatism, and Pluralistic Thought

Focus: The Declaration’s moral and political afterlives; natural rights traditions and their tensions; pragmatism, pluralism, and competing visions of American political legitimacy.

• Chair: Aaron Bentley (Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Fairfield University)
• John Mikhail (Carroll Professor of Jurisprudence, Georgetown University Law Center)
• Scott Pratt (Professor and Department Head of Philosophy, University of Oregon)       

3:30-5:00 Curating Sovereignty: Curators’ Role in the Reframing of American History

Focus: How curatorial practice becomes a site of sovereignty and historical intervention; 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.
• Chair: Carey M. Weber (Executive Director of Fairfield University Art Museum)
• Stacy Dufresne (Curator of the 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)
       

**Register for Conference here:   https://forms.gle/RqSLZS63nQqP9xaNA

Note: This is an FYE Event for first year students.

For more information, contact Daniele Botti / (203) 254-4000 x2807 / dbotti@fairfield.edu

Image: Fritz Scholder, Bicentennial Indian (1974), detail. Courtesy of the Estate of Fritz Scholder, Garth Greenan Gallery, New York, and LewAllen Galleries, Santa Fe.