Brandon University Professor Launches Podcast Exposing the Stolen Scientific Legacy of Indigenous Peoples

Press Release

April 16, 2026

Stolen Science, hosted by Dr. Darrell Racine, reveals the hidden Indigenous knowledge behind two centuries of Western European scientific discovery

Dr. Darrell Racine, Professor Emeritus of Native Studies at Brandon University and a Métis scholar from the Turtle Mountains of Southwestern Manitoba, has launched Stolen Science, a new podcast series that uncovers the largely unacknowledged contributions of Indigenous peoples to Western European science between 1670 and 1870. The series is now available on YouTube and major podcast platforms.

The culmination of Dr. Racine’s doctoral thesis, completed at the University of Oxford, Stolen Science argues that Indigenous knowledge was systematically extracted from communities across Western Canada and woven into European scientific frameworks without acknowledgment or credit. Far from being passive participants in the fur trade, Indigenous peoples were active contributors to the scientific and cultural development of the Western world, a history Dr. Racine contends has been deliberately obscured.

Aimed at both Indigenous youth and academic researchers, the podcast offers a new framework for understanding Indigenous history and for conducting research that treats Indigenous peoples as equals rather than footnotes. The series also addresses the ongoing consequences of this erasure, including the persistence of racist narratives in mainstream academic and public discourse. The debut episode introduces the podcast’s central thesis and challenges common arguments used to deny Indigenous rights in Canada, critiquing a recent National Post article that claimed Canada was not stolen from Indigenous peoples. Upcoming episodes will examine the intimate relationship between British Imperial Science and the Hudson’s Bay Company, and trace how Indigenous knowledge was extracted from Western North America and absorbed into the scientific institutions of Europe.

“Indigenous people contributed far more to Western European science and culture than most history books acknowledge. This podcast is for Indigenous youth, so they can understand what their ancestors gave to the world, and so they can ensure their rights and their communities are protected going forward. Historians have missed a very critical part of history, and it is time that changed.”

• Dr. Darrell Racine, Host, Stolen Science; Professor Emeritus, Department of Native Studies

“Working with Dr. Racine on Stolen Science has been a privilege. This project brings an essential and long-overdue perspective to light, and I am honoured to help bring it to audiences.”

• Rochelle Douris, Producer, Stolen Science; Contract Academic Staff, Department of English, Drama & Creative Writing

“Dr. Racine’s scholarship represents exactly the kind of transformative, community-centred research that Brandon University’s Faculty of Arts strives to support. Stolen Science brings the rigour of doctoral research to a broad public audience in a way that is both accessible and urgently needed. This podcast will change the way people understand the history of science, and the history of Canada.”

• Dr. Gregory Kennedy, Dean of Arts, Brandon University

“Stolen Science is a powerful example of the kind of knowledge mobilization we strive for at Brandon University, rigorous, original research that reaches beyond the academy and into the communities that need it most. Dr. Racine’s work challenges us to rethink the foundations of Western science and to ask hard questions about whose contributions have been counted and whose have been erased. We are proud to see this scholarship brought to life in such an accessible and compelling form.”

• Dr. Bernadette Ardelli, Vice-President, Research & Graduate Studies, Brandon University

About Dr. Darrell Racine

Dr. Darrell Racine is a Métis scholar, playwright, and Professor Emeritus in the Department of Native Studies at Brandon University. He holds degrees from Harvard University, Cambridge University, Brandon University, and the University of Oxford, where he completed his doctorate. His research interests include Indigenous self-government, Aboriginal health, museology, and the history of Indigenous contributions to Western science. He is also an award-winning playwright whose works, co-written with Dale Lakevold, include Misty Lake, Stretching Hide, Owl Calling, Franklin’s Fate, and She-She Quois Rattle, a cycle of plays exploring Indigenous culture and history in Canada. He lives in Brandon, Manitoba.

About Rochelle Douris

Rochelle Douris is Contract Academic Staff in the Department of English, Drama & Creative Writing at Brandon University. Originally from Saskatoon, she holds a BFA from Concordia University and an MFA from the University of Florida. She has taught acting and directed professionally for over twenty years, with a focus on developing compassionate, socially aware artists who respect theatrical traditions while pushing creative boundaries.

Contact

• Research
• vprgs@brandonu.ca

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