Repositioning the Indian Missionary: William Apess's Theory of Indigenous Missions

NATIVE CULTURES OF THE AMERICAS

SPEAKER: Anthony Trujillo, Doctoral Candidate In American Studies, Harvard University

In this presentation, Ohkay Owingeh scholar Anthony Trujillo shares research on the provocative publication by nineteenth-century Pequot intellectual, William Apess, The Experiences of Five Christian Indians of the Pequod Tribe; An Indian’s Looking Glass for the White Man. Considering the unique form of Indigenous Christianity as a central modality through which Apess made his intellectual imprint, Trujillo argues for a reevaluation of the complicated and composite figure of the Indian missionary guided by the questions: Who did Apess consider himself a missionary to? Who was he an agent of? What theory or theology of missions compelled his work? What kind of religio-political project was he working toward? With these questions, Trujillo examines the connections between Indigenous political formation, spiritual power, and literary creation.