Meet the Indigenous Values Initiative Team

Philip P. ArnoldPhilip P. Arnold is a Professor in the Department of Religion, and a core faculty member of Native American and Indigenous Studies at Syracuse University. He is the Founding Director of the Skä·noñh—Great Law of Peace Center, (2012-15) and repurposed the “French Fort” on Onondaga Lake which celebrated the colonial presence in 1656-58.  The new Center tells the ancient story of the formation of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) tradition known as the Great Law of Peace and its influences on American culture. The Skä·noñh Center is a collaboration between the Onondaga Nation, Onondaga County, Syracuse University and other educational and cultural institutions in the Syracuse area.  He is the President of the Indigenous Values Initiative, which is a non-profit organization to support the work of the Skä·noñh—Great Law of Peace Center, the American Indian Law Alliance, and sister organizations and initiatives to educate the general public about the values of the Haudenosaunee. In 2007 he organized the Doctrine of Discovery Study Group and listserve to study the legacy of Christianity’s destruction of Indigenous Peoples. With his wife Sandra Bigtree he co-hosts the Mapping the Doctrine of Discovery podcast and is the PI for “200 Years of Johnson v. McIntosh: Indigenous Responses to the Religious Foundations of Racism,” a 3-year (2022-24) grant from the Henry Luce Foundation. He is co-editor of the Syracuse University Press series Haudenosaunee and Indigenous Worlds and a founding member of NOON (Neighbors of the Onondaga Nation). His books are Eating Landscape: Aztec and European Occupation of Tlalocan (1999); Sacred Landscapes and Cultural Politics: Planting a Tree(edited with Ann Gold, 2001); The Gift of Sports: Indigenous Ceremonial Dimensions of the Games We Love (2012) and Urgency of Indigenous Values (Syracuse University Press, 2023).

ORCID

Recent publications:

Chapters in Edited Volumes:

  • 2022      “Why is ‘religion’ a problematic category for understanding Indigenous traditions,” Indigenous Religious Traditions in 5 Minutes, Molly H. Bassett and Natalie Avalos, eds. (Equinox Publishing). Pp. 25-29.
  • 2021      “’And Now Our Minds Are One’: The Thanksgiving Address and Attaining Consensus among the Haudenosaunee,” for Native American Rhetoric, edited by Larry Gross and dedicated to Inés Talamantez (University of New Mexico Press).  Pp 17-46.
  • 2020      “Indigeneity: The Work of History of Religions and Charles H. Long,” Chapter 5 of With this Root About My Person: Charles H. Long and New Directions in the Study of Religion, edited by Davíd Carrasco and Jennifer Reid (University of New Mexico Press).  Pg. 24-38.
  • 2018      Forward for Rethinking Relations and Animism: Personhood and Materiality, edited by Miguel Astor-Aguilera, Graham Harvey, 1stedition (Routledge).
  • 2015      “The Study of Religion and Indigenous Values: The Onondaga Nation Case.” In Between Religion and the Study of Religion: Visions of New Forms of Community Edited by Richard A. Gardner and Tatsuo Murakami, Sophia University Press.  Pp. 327-345.  Published in Japanese, this is the final publication of the Niwano Peace Foundation conferences organized by the late Professor Michio Araki, Tsukuba University.

Journal Articles:

Conferences and events:

2023      “Religious Origins of White Supremacy: Johnson v. M’Intosh and the Doctrine of Christian Discovery. Key collaborators include American Indian Law Alliance (AILA), Indigenous Values Initiative (IVI), The Skä-noñh – Great Law of Peace Center. Sponsored by the Henry Luce Foundation and Syracuse University. 8-10 December. https://doctrineofdiscovery.org/blog/religious-origins-white-supremacy/

2020      Principle organizer for “Mother Earth’s Pandemic: The Doctrine of Discovery,” webinar virtual conference, held on 3 Thursdays, 6, 13 and 20 August.  https://indigenousvalues.org/mother-earths-pandemic/. Presentations: https://www.youtube.com/c/IndigenousValuesInitiative/videos

2013-23               Haudenosaunee Wooden Stick Festival and Annual Randy Hall Memorial Masters Lacrosse Tournament.  Onondaga Lake Park, last weekend in September.

Sandy BigTree Sandy Bigtree, Bear Clan, is a citizen of the Mohawk Nation at Akwesasne. She is a founding board member of the Indigenous Values Initiative, (501C3) which fosters collaborative educational work between the academic community and the Haudenosaunee to promote the message of peace that was brought to Onondaga Lake thousands of years ago. It is this message that continues to influence American Democracy, the Women’s Rights Movement, and the Environmental Justice Movement. She helped organize the: “Roots of Peacemaking” educational festivals in 2006 and 2007; the “Doctrine of Discovery Conference” in 2014; and co-edited the Neighbors of the Onondaga Nation (NOON) educational booklet. She was an original Planning Committee member of Skä•noñh: the Great Law of Peace Center and currently sits on the Educational Collaborative committee. In 1984-85, she was the Administrative Assistant to the American Indian Law Support Center at the Native American Rights Fund in Boulder, CO.* In 1980-82 she performed with Native Americans in the Arts theatre troupe (an affiliate of the American Indian Community House) at LaMama, NYC, and toured the northeastern US. From age 1-30, Sandy performed weekly on radio, TV and other venues around Central New York. The Sandy Bigtree Band was well known throughout the 1970s. In 2008, Sandy was the recipient of the Syracuse New Times “Hall of Fame” Sammy Award. Show business is a “tradition” that began with her grandfather Mitchell Bigtree’s escape from Thomas Indian Boarding School to join Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show in Europe. His most memorable performance was at Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee.

Gail Bundy grew up in Homer, NY near the Tioughnioga River. She lived in Denver for almost 30 years where she worked as a strategic planner in telecommunications and as a consultant in the energy industry. She also taught part-time at the Native American Multi-cultural Education School for almost 20 years. Upon leaving corporate employment, she was a grantwriter for several social justice non-profits, a member of the Red Earth Women’s Alliance, and the Transform Columbus Day Alliance. Upon returning to her home area, she has been active in NOON’s Historic Marker Project, Gas Drilling Awareness of Cortland County, and in local literacy initiatives. She has an M.A. in English from SUNY Binghamton.

Betty LyonsBetty Lyons (Onondaga Nation, Snipe Clan), President & Executive Director of the American Indian Law Alliance (AILA), is an Indigenous and environmental activist and citizen of the Onondaga Nation. Her native name, Gaen hia uh, meaning ‘small sky,’ was given to her by her Snipe Clan mother and has developed her love for the earth from her deep connection to her culture. Growing up Ms. Lyons learned a deep respect for the earth and the responsibility to protect it. Ms. Lyons worked together with the NOON organization (Neighbors of the Onondaga Nation) to educate and teach local communities about the culture of the Onondaga Nation to further a better understanding and to bridge the gap between the communities. Ms. Lyons has participated and organized rallies and demonstrations pushing for a ban on fracking in New York State, until a ban was achieved in December 2014.

Betty Lyons has worked for the Onondaga Nation for over seventeen years as a Public Relations Representative, Manager of the Onondaga Nation Arena, and as Executive Assistant to Tadodaho Sidney Hill. She has been an active participant at the annual United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) since the first session in 2001 and has coordinated the opening ceremonies. For over 10 years, Ms. Lyons was the President of Onondaga Minor Athletic Club where she organized and managed over 15 youth sports team programs.

Betty Lyons graduated from Cazenovia College ALA (2013), Bryant Stratton College Graduate of Paralegal Program Magna Cum Laude. She is also the hardworking mother of Garrett and Sid Jr.

 

Jake Edwards profile photoJake Haiwhagai’i (He speaks with strong voice) Edwards, Onondaga Eel Clan, lives on the Onondaga Nation Territory. He maintains the continuity of the Longhouse oral teachings. The Onondaga govern and teach within an oral tradition that is over a thousand years old. Jake is the 11th child in a family of twelve children. He grew up among his elders of the Onondaga Nation learning and sharing the messages from the original instructions, passing on history and knowledge of the natural world.

Jake was appointed by the Grand Council of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy to the Haudenosaunee External Relations Committee to respectfully work on political and governmental structures beyond the borders of Haudenosaunee Country. This work includes diplomatic work at the United Nations and other entities outside the Confederacy. He is a board member of the Seventh Generation Fund for Indigenous Peoples and a board member of the Indigenous Values Initiative. Jake was one of the primary voices leading the 400th anniversary (1613 – 2013) of the Two Row Wampum Campaign, in which people in canoes paddled the waterways from the Onondaga Nation Territory to the United Nations in NYC, teaching people at stops along the way.

He actively reminds people of the significance of our treaties and reflects upon decisions that will protect the people into the seventh generation. Jake explains how wampum laid the foundational principles and structure of the United States Constitution.

 

 

Elyse Edwards, Board member.

Sarah Shute Treasurer

 

Meet our Fellow

Dana Lloyd Profile PhotoDana Lloyd is a research fellow at the Indigenous Values Initiative. She recently completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics at Washington University in St. Louis. She holds a PhD in Religion from Syracuse University, a law degree and an LLM from Tel Aviv University’s Faculty of Law, and an MA in Philosophy from Tel Aviv University. Her book manuscript, Arguing for this Land: Rethinking Indigenous Sacred Sites, is under contract with University Press of Kansas.  You can contact her at: .