Sonja Thomas, Assistant Professor of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (Colby College)
Many Catholic dioceses in rural areas of the US are recruiting and hiring missionary priests from India. The Great-Falls-Billings diocese of central and eastern Montana is one of them. Priests from India are entering into an area of the country that Winona LaDuke has called “the Deep North,” where anti-immigrant sentiments, white supremacy, and anti-Native racism is prevalent. Priests serve not only white parishioners, but on Indian reservations as well and may face a myriad of cultural and racial disconnects—not to mention a history of settler colonial violence perpetrated by the Catholic Church. This (autoethnography?) examines settler colonial history, Catholicism in rural Montana, and the migration of priests from India to the region. In this paper, I share with Colby preliminary research on the subject—asking more questions than I provide answers.
Sonja Thomas grew up in eastern Montana in a devote South Asian American Catholic family. At Colby, she teaches courses on South Asian feminisms, gender and human rights, feminist theory, critical race feminisms, and postcolonial and native feminisms. She has written articles on education and religious minorities in India, Black vernacular traditions in the US and globally, and on Indian missionary priests in Montana. She is the author of Privileged Minorities: Syrian Christianity, Gender, and Minority Rights in Postcolonial India. Sonja is associate editor for South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies.
- Religious Prejudice on the Reservation February 25, 2019
Lyla Jones Sonja Thomas, Associate Professor, gave a powerful lecture regarding Indians on the Reservation: Missionary Priests from India and Catholic Settler Colonialism. Her speech really opened my eyes to the injustice ... - Questioning the Auto Ethnographical Approach February 25, 2019
egrubman While there were many aspects to Professor Thomas’s lecture that were out of my realm of familiarity, the approach to her research was also done in a way I had ... - The Ignored History of Native Americans in the US February 25, 2019
Grace Eagan Professor Sonja Thomas presented her current research and ideas behind her previous works last week in Presence of the Past. She began by discussing the history of the small town ... - Swept Under the Rug: Lack of U.S. education regarding the Indian Genocide February 25, 2019
Kallie Hutchinson I found Sonja Thomas’ lecture, “Indians on the Reservation: Missionary Priests from India and Catholic Settler Colonialism”, to be extremely moving. This past semester I attended the showing of the ... - “Insider” in Research February 25, 2019
slattia Sonja Thomas’s presentation on “Indians on the Reservation: Missionary Priests from India and Catholic Settler Colonialism” was very interesting and brought about topics that I realized I really don’t know ... - the implications of personal connections/storytelling to the presence of the past February 25, 2019
gohwil21 Professor Sonja Thomas’s lecture discussed the phenomena of Indian missionary priests coming to the United States- particularly to Native American reservations. As part of the lecture, Prof. Thomas incorporated components ... - Native History Reflection February 25, 2019
William Kirby I was very moved by Professor Thomas’ lecture on “Indians on the Reservation: Missionary Priests from India and Catholic Settler Colonialism”. For starters, I had little to no background information ... - A Misleading Education February 25, 2019
Isabella Scribano Sonja Thomas titled her talk, “Indians on the Reservation: Missionary Priests from India and Catholic Settler Colonialism.” By the end of the lecture I was very interested in her words ... - Colonial Ideas in Rural Montana February 25, 2019
Sarah Rossien Professor Sonja Thomas presented on the hiring of missionary priests from India in eastern Montana. This area is prevalent with opinions of anti-immigration, white supremacy, and anti-Native racism. Thomas explored ... - The Good, The Bad, and The Catholics February 25, 2019
Sativa Jones Professor Sonja Thomas’s lecture illuminated an interweaving of the global and the local. This interweaving is painful, yet not in totality. A web of events and far-reaching oppression was revealed ...