American Catholic Historical Association/ American Historical Association; San Francisco, CA

Conference: American Catholic Historical Association/ American Historical Association;  San Francisco, CA
January 4 - 7, 2024

Presentation:  Disrupting Place: Hunting, Farming, and Faith at Two Indigenous-Catholic Holy Sites in the North American West, 1810-1889

REPORT:

Through a Kellogg Institute Graduate Conference Travel Grant, I traveled to San Francisco, California for the 2024 American Catholic Historical Association/ American Historical
Association Annual Meeting. The American Catholic Historical Association is an affiliated society of the American Historical Association, and they have joint annual meetings once a year.

During the conference, I attended panels and networked with other scholars. Several panels and my conversations with the scholars who presented on them have inspired future work. I also met with publishers during the conference, discussing the fit of my dissertation project with their presses.

On January 6, 2024, I presented a paper at the American Catholic Historical Association Annual Meeting. My paper was entitled “Threatening Place: Hunting, Farming, and Faith at Two Indigenous-Catholic Holy Sites in the North American West, 1810-1889,” and I presented it as part of the panel New Histories of the North American West. In my paper, I focused on two Indigenous-Catholic holy sites: el Santuario de Chimayó and Lac Ste. Anne. I used a multidimensional, integrative view of human development that examined the political, economic, social, and religious conditions through which people were able to shape their world, to flourish, and to live with dignity and freedom at each site. And I argued that Euro-American colonists and missionaries threatened Indigenous lifeways—the bison hunting and religious gatherings centered around the lake Wakamne/ Manito Sahkahigan and the farming and healing rituals centered around the sacred center of the hill Tsi Mayoh and the mud at Tsimajopokwi—but ultimately, these Indigenous lifeways prevailed in transformed ways.

The presentation was very successful. I received many rich questions and positive feedback in the Question and Answer section of the panel. Attendees complimented my project, my source base and methodology, and the handout that I created as a visual for the presentation. I am revising the paper into a journal article.