Possible Pasts : Becoming Colonial in Early America / Robert Blair St. George.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

St. George, Robert Blair, editor.

Omohundro Institute of Early American History & Culture.

McNeil Center for Early American Studies.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Acculturation--America--History--Congresses.

Acculturation.

Intercultural communication--America--History--Congresses.

Intercultural communication.

Culture conflict--America--History--Congresses.

Culture conflict.

Culture diffusion--America--History--Congresses.

Culture diffusion.

America--History--To 1810--Congresses.

America.

United States--History--Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775--Congresses.

United States.

America--Colonization--Social aspects--Congresses.

America--Colonization--Historiography--Congresses.

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xii, 417 pages) : illustrations, map

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Ithaca, NY : Cornell University Press, [2018]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

Possible Pasts represents a landmark in early American studies, bringing to that field the theoretical richness and innovative potential of the scholarship on colonial discourse and postcolonial theory. Drawing on the methods and interpretive insights of history, anthropology, history of art, folklore, and textual analysis, its authors explore the cultural processes by which individuals and societies become colonial.Rather than define early America in terms of conventional geographical, chronological, or subdisciplinary boundaries, their essays span landscapes from New England to Peru, time periods from the sixteenth to the mid-nineteenth century, and topics from religion to race and novels to nationalism. In his introduction Robert Blair St. George offers an overview of the genealogy of ideas and key terms appearing in the book.Part I, "Interrogating America," then challenges readers to rethink the meaning of "early America" and its relation to postcolonial theory. In Part II, "Translation and Transculturation," essays explore how both Europeans and native peoples viewed such concepts as dissent, witchcraft, family piety, and race. The construction of individual identity and agency in Philadelphia is the focus of Part III, "Shaping Subjectivities." Finally, Part IV, "Oral Performance and Personal Power," considers the ways in which political authority and gendered resistance were established in early America.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction / George, Robert Blair St.

Part One: Interrogating America

Postcolonial Theory And Early America: An Approach From The Caribbean / Hulme, Peter

What's Colonial About Colonial America? / Warner, Michael

Part Two: Translation And Transculturation

Dissent And Difference

The Native Translator As Critic: A Nahua Playwright's Interpretive Practice / Burkhart, Louise M.

Dissent And The Frontier Of Translation: Roger Williams's A Key Into The Language Of America / Myles, Anne G.

Colonial Visions

The Inca's Witches: Gender And The Cultural Work Of Colonization In Seventeenth-Century Peru / Silverblatt, Irene

Mestizo Dreams: Transculturation And Heterogeneity In Inca Garcilaso De La Vega / Mazzotti, José Antonio

Puritanism's Progress

From "Religion And Society" To Practices: The New Religious History / Hall, David D.

What Did Christianity Do For Joseph Johnson? A Mohegan Preacher And His Community / Murray, Laura J.

Nation And Race

War, The State, And Religious Norms In "Coromantee" Thought: The Ideology Of An African American Nation / Thornton, John K.

Consolidating National Masculinity: Scientific Discourse And Race In The Post-Revolutionary United States / Nelson, Dana D.

Part Three: Shaping Subjectivities

Secret Selves, Credible Personas: The Problematics Of Trust And Public Display In The Writing Of Eighteenth- Century Philadelphia Merchants / Ditz, Toby L.

Black Gothic: The Shadowy Origins Of The American Bourgeoisie / Smith-Rosenberg, Carroll

Bodies Of Illusion: Portraits, People, And The Construction Of Memory / Lovell, Margaretta M.

A Criminal Is Being Beaten: The Politics Of Punishment And The History Of The Body / Meranze, Michael

Part Four: Oral Performance, Personal Power

Massacred Language: Courtroom Performance In Eighteenth-Century Boston / George, Robert Blair St.

"Neither Male Nor Female": Jemima Wilkinson And The Politics Of Gender In Post-Revolutionary America / Juster, Susan

The Genders Of Nationalism: Patriotic Violence, Patriotic Sentiment In The Performances Of Deborah Sampson Gannett / Gustafson, Sandra M.

Contributors

Index

Notes:

Based on papers presented at a conference held in June 1994 at the University of Pennsylvania, sponsored by the McNeil Center for Early American Studies and the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 20. Sep 2019)

ISBN:

1-5017-1786-3

OCLC:

1080550694