Indian women and French men : rethinking cultural encounter in the western Great Lakes / Susan Sleeper-Smith.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Sleeper-Smith, Susan.

Series:

Native Americans of the Northeast

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Indian women--Northwest, Old--History.

Indian women.

Indians of North America--Commerce--Northwest, Old.

Indians of North America.

Indians of North America--First contact with other peoples--Northwest, Old.

Fur trade--Northwest, Old--History.

Fur trade.

Indigenous peoples--First contact with other peoples.

Indigenous peoples.

Fur--Northwest, Old--History.

Fur.

Indians--First contact with other peoples--Northwest, Old.

Indians.

Indians--Commerce--Northwest, Old.

Indians of North America--Commerce.

Indians of North America--First contact with other peoples.

United States--Old Northwest.

Genre:

History

Physical Description:

xv, 234 pages : illustrations (some color), maps ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Amherst : University of Massachusetts Press, ©2001.

Summary:

"A center of the lucrative fur trade throughout the colonial period, the Great Lakes region was an important site of cultural as well as economic exchange between native and European peoples. In this well-researched study, Susan Sleeper-Smith focuses on an often overlooked aspect of these interactions - the role played by Indian women who married French traders. The author first shows how these women used a variety of means to negotiate a middle ground between two disparate cultures. Many were converts to Catholicism who constructed elaborate mixed-blood kinship networks that paralleled those of native society, thus facilitating the integration of Indian and French values. By the mid-eighteenth century, native women had extended these kin linkages to fur trade communities throughout the Great Lakes, not only enhancing access to the region's highly prized pelts but also ensuring safe transport for other goods. Drawing on a broad range of primary and secondary sources, she shows how these women used a variety of means to negotiate a middle ground between two disparate cultures. Many were converts to Catholicism who constructed elaborate mixed-blood kinship networks that paralleled those of native society, thus facilitating the integration of Indian and French values. By the mid-eighteenth century, native women had extended these kin linkages to fur trade communities throughout the Great Lakes, not only enhancing access to the region's highly prized pelts but also ensuring safe transport for other goods. Indian Women and French Men depicts the encounter of Old World and New as an extended process of indigenous adaptation and change rather than one of conflict and inevitable demise. By serving as brokers between those two worlds, Indian women who married French men helped connect the Great Lakes to a larger, expanding transatlantic economy while securing the survival of their own native culture. As such, Sleeper-Smith points out, their experiences illuminate those of other traditional cultures forced to adapt to market-motivated Europeans." -- Back cover

"A center of the lucrative fur trade throughout the colonial period, the Great Lakes region was an important site of cultural as well as economic exchange between native and European peoples. In this well-researched study, Susan Sleeper-Smith focuses on an often overlooked aspect of these interactions - the role played by Indian women who married French traders. Drawing on a broad range of primary and secondary sources, she shows how these women used a variety of means to negotiate a middle ground between two disparate cultures. Many were converts to Catholicism who constructed elaborate mixed-blood kinship networks that paralleled those of native society, thus facilitating the integration of Indian and French values. By the mid-eighteenth century, native women had extended these kin linkages to fur trade communities throughout the Great Lakes, not only enhancing access to the region's highly prized pelts but also ensuring safe transport for other goods.

Indian Women and French Men depicts the encounter of Old World and New as an extended process of indigenous adaptation and change rather than one of conflict and inevitable demise. By serving as brokers between those two worlds, Indian women who married French men helped connect the Great Lakes to a larger, expanding transatlantic economy while securing the survival of their own native culture. As such, Sleeper-Smith points out, their experiences illuminate those of other traditional cultures forced to adapt to market-motivated Europeans."--Pub. website.

Contents:

1 Fish to Furs: The Fur Trade in Illinois Country 11

2 Marie Rouensa and the Jesuits: Conversion, Gender, and Power 23

3 Marie Madeleine Reaume L'archeveque Chevalier and the St. Joseph River Potawatomi 38

4 British Governance in the Western Great Lakes 54

5 Agriculture, Warfare, and Neutrality 73

6 Being Indian and Becoming Catholic 96

7 Hiding in Plain View: Persistence on the Indiana Frontier 116

8 Emigrants and Indians: Michigan's Mythical Frontier 141.

Fish to furs: the fur trade in Illinois country

Marie Rouensa and the Jesuits: conversion, gender, and power

Marie Madeleine R<U+fffd>eaume L'arch<U+fffd>eveque Chevalier and the St. Joseph River Potawatomi

British governance in the western Great Lakes

Agriculture, warfare, and neutrality

Being Indian and becoming Catholic

Hiding in plain view: persistence on the Indiana frontier

Emigrants and Indians: Michigan's mythical frontier.

Marie Madeleine Réaume L'archêveque Chevalier and the St. Joseph River Potawatomi

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 165-221) and index.

Other Format:

Online version: Sleeper-Smith, Susan. Indian women and French men.

ISBN:

1558493085

9781558493087

1558493107

9781558493100

OCLC:

47023498

Online:

Book review (H-Net)