Writing Indians - Literacy, Christianity, and Native Community in Early America

A study of cultural encounter, this book takes a fresh look at the much ignored and often misunderstood experience of Christian Indians in early America. Focusing on New England missionary settlements from the mid-seventeenth to the early nineteenth centuries, Hilary E. Wyss examines the ways in which Native American converts to Christianity developed their own distinct identity within the context of a colonial culture.

With an approach that weaves together literature, religious studies, and ethno-history, Wyss grounds her work in the analysis of a rarely read body of "autobiographical" writings by Christian Indians, including letters, journal entries, and religious confessions. She then juxtaposes these documents to the writings of better known Native Americans like Samson Occom as well as to the published works of Anglo-Americans, such as Mary Rowlandson's famous captivity narrative and Eleazor Wheelock's accounts of his charity schools.

In their search for ostensibly "authentic" Native voices, scholars have tended to overlook the writings of Christian Indians. Yet, Wyss argues, these texts reveal the emergence of a dynamic Native American identity through Christianity. More specifically, they show how the active appropriation of New England Protestantism contributed to the formation of a particular Indian identity that resisted colonialism by using its language against itself.

About the author

Hilary E. Wyss is assistant professor of English at Auburn University.

Summary

This work examines often overlooked writings of Christian Indians in early America. Wyss argues that the Native Americans who converted to Christianity forged a unique identity as they negotiated their place and power between Native American tribal culture and Protestant Anglo America.

Product details

• Authors: Hilary Wyss, Hilary E Wyss, Hilary E. Wyss, Hilary H. Wyss
• Publisher: University Of Massachusetts Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 30.07.2003
• EAN: 9781558494121
• ISBN: 978-1-55849-412-1
• No. of pages: 224
• Dimensions: 129 mm x 228 mm x 17 mm
• Weight: 349 g
• Series: Native Americans of the Northe; Native Americans of the Northeast: Culture, History & the Contemporary S.; Native Americans of the Northeast: Culture, History & the Contemporary; Native Americans of the Northe; Native Americans of the Northeast: Culture, History & the Contemporary
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > General and comparative literary studies; Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous