Countering Colonization: Native American Women and

Devens, Carol

ISBN 10: 0520075579 / ISBN 13: 9780520075573

Editore: University of California Press, 1992

Riguardo questo articolo

1992. North America, Native Americans, Colonization. University of California Press. Very good - near fine red cloth and fine dust jacket 185p.

Codice articolo 16602161

Dati bibliografici

• Titolo: Countering Colonization: Native American Women and
• Editore: University of California Press
• Data di pubblicazione: 1992
• Lingua: Inglese
• ISBN 10: 0520075579
• ISBN 13: 9780520075573
• Rilegatura: Rilegato
• Condizione della sovraccoperta: sovraccoperta

Descrizione articolo

Riassunto

With Countering Colonization, Carol Devens offers a well-documented, revisionary history of Native American women. From the time of early Jesuit missionaries to the late nineteenth century, Devens brings Ojibwa, Cree, and Montagnais-Naskapi women of the Upper Great Lakes region to the fore. Far from being passive observers without regard for status and autonomy, these women were pivotal in their own communities and active in shaping the encounter between Native American and white civilizations.

While women's voices have been silenced in most accounts, their actions preserved in missionary letters and reports indicate the vital part women played during centuries of conflict. In contrast to some Indian men who accepted the missionaries' religious and secular teachings as useful tools for dealing with whites, many Indian women felt a strong threat to their ways of life and beliefs. Women endured torture and hardship, and even torched missionaries' homes in an attempt to reassert control over their lives. Devens demonstrates that gender conflicts in Native American communities, which anthropologists considered to be "aboriginal," resulted in large part from women's and men's divergence over the acceptance of missionaries and their message.

This book's perspective is unique in its focus on Native American women who acted to preserve their culture. In acknowledging these women as historically significant actors, Devens has written a work for every scholar and student seeking a more inclusive understanding of the North American past.

Informazioni sull'autore

Carol Devens is Assistant Professor of History at Central Michigan University.