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Feb 28, 1527
Álvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca
1527-1536 Navarez expedition to Cuba, Florida - along Gulf Coast - 4 men left by the end
aim to make them Spanish colonies in gulf
Caught by natives but eventually escapes and goes on journey where he befriends many natives
Estevan: slave who escaped his captors, died in encounter with Zuni
Relives his journey through a book Relacion published 1542
o His story is not a typical European narrative
o Very little triumph of whites,
o Describes European cannibalism
o Natives treated and talke -
James Printer
Native American Christian Convert who worked as a typesetter and printer’s devil for a white man in the mid 1600’s
Printed Bible in native language – he was the one who did the translating so he was essential to the project
He was the perfect depiction of a civilized Indian- proof that colonizers could influence the natives
He also represented a threat- “menacing Indian” he was able to acculturate and excel in his performance of “Englishness” while still being Indian- never fully able to pass as -
Come Over and Help Us
1629-1675
Massachusetts Bay Colony seal depicted an image of Native American asking colonizers to come over and help them
Idea of fixing the savage
Colonial image was determined by comparing themselves to the image of the “savage” (uncivilized, unholy)- made themselves feel better to compare to people they thought were underneath them – “Stabilize” the identities of the English
Reveals an uncertainty of their control
Normalized the takeover of native land- it’s okay that we’re doing this because -
King Philip's War
aka Metacom’s War, “first indian war’
organized attacks by native americans on colonists
war fought: 1675-1676
devastated native and Anglo communities in New England
Natives join side of british against colonists
mentioned in Miles article because Mary Rowlandson wrote “The Soveraignty and Goodness of God” in 1682--a memoir about her wartime experience--ex. of “literary imperialism”
the similarities between Marrant’s and Rowlandson’s memoirs indicate Marrant was aware of these American literar -
Pueblo Revolt
1680-1692
Colonizers/missionaries inserted themselves within Puebla society, separating families and communities
In 1675 the government in New Mexico went on a campaign against witchery- hanged 4 natives and injured many others
This sparked a revolt by villagers which spread across the region to villages which were hundreds of miles apart – 25 total settlements rebelled
400 of 2500 Spaniards killed, 21 of 33 Fransiscan missionaries killed
Pope was the leader of the revolt
main point is that na -
James Parsons
In the mid 18th century, a European medical “professional” who thought that all hermaphrodites (I use this term because it is how Parsons described it, this is an offensive term now) were women with enlarged clitorises
wrote the book A Mechanical and Critical Inquiry into the Nature of the Hermaphrodite addressing regulations and essentially the protocol of “dealing with” hermaphrodites
Says hermaphroditism isn’t real- writes a book about the political implications of hermaphrodites even though -
Misrule
As defined in Deloria’s article, “misrule” is understood best in comparison with carnival traditions, both of which are connected and blended together. “Both sets of rituals are about inverting social distinctions, turning the world upside down, questioning authority.” Misrule had an “aggressive, critical quality that could be mustered…to protest transgressions of the social order.” Misrule and carnival offered “proto-Americans a platform for imagining and performing an identity of revolution -
Tammany
Tammany (from Playing Indian) - late 1700s
He was a Native leader (Tamenend) in Delaware, who supposedly (according to colonists) granted William Penn access to the rivers and woods.
People celebrated King Tammany’s Day on May 1st, because they thought of him as symbol of “Americanness” that linked them to the land.
By creating an idea of Tammany as “the noble American Indian” and then dressing to emulate him, colonists created their American identity but establishing their values by vehicle -
Sarah Grosvenor
Got pregnant from Amasa Sessions who encouraged her to get an abortion (originally she didn’t want one) because they were both from prominent families
Sessions gave her a powder that he received from doctor john Hallowell
The powder didn’t work so he and the doctor convinced her to get surgery to abort the fetus- unable to do so
2 days later she birthed a still born, and then became sick 10 days later and finally told her parents what happened
The doctor fled but 5 years later was found guilty o -
Quickening
When a pregnant woman first feels fetus move
Usually occurs 4-5 months in
Until 1742 there were no prosecutions of abortions that occurred before quickening
focus on mother; not fetus; not male medical authority -
John Marrant
30 years old in 1785
Found God as an adolescent and dedicated life to helping people find God also, especially natives
Methodist black man taken captive by a native tribe
wrote a book about his experience
his black identity was erased from his writings - more credibility because of this
showed that power could be gained through adopting Native identity
religion: could be used as a vehicle to gain power
John Marrant was a tricultural missionary, who wrote three books about his experience as a pre -
Age of CIO Lipsitz
Congress of Industrial Organizations - unionizing
The Age of the CIO (Congress of Industrial Organizations) is discussed in Lipsitz’s article American Studies in a Moment of Danger. “Helped restructure the contours of politics and culture in this country.” “The Age of the CIO not only involved mass mobilizations by workers on issues important to their class, but also provoked a broader identity crisis about the relationships between people from different classes and strata.” Industrial unionis -
Moore vs. Regents of UC
Henrietta Lacks (1960’s) – black woman- found to have aggressive cervical cancer cells- after she died her cells were used in widely famous research – named HeLa – she was kept anonomous but it later came out who she was – family never got compensation for all the money that was made off of her body – she died on a segregated ward, family could never have afforded that treatment that research done on her cells came up with
John Moore - white man whose cells were found to have unusual properties -
Instutional Racism
Brought up in Priscilla Wald article: American Studies and the Politics of Life
Coined by Stokely Carmichael- explain how racism structures the relationships, interactions and institutions of social, political and economic life in the US]
Less visualized than individual racism
Ingrained in our politics and culture
Anti-racism cannot be effective without deep structural change
Murder of a black person is individual racism. Poverty leading to death of hundreds of blacks is institutional
Inequitab -
Heteronormativity
Cohen: the body of lifestyle norms that [basically reinforce a gender binary]
“The body of lifestyle norms that holds that people fall into distinct and complementary genders (man and woman) with natural roles in life. It asserts that heterosexuality is the only sexual orientation or only norm, and states that sexual and marital relations are most (or only) fitting between people of opposite sexes.”
demonizes non-normative family structure -
reframing of queer politics to include non-normative