In this first comprehensive study of American Indians of southern New England from 1500 to 1650, Kathleen J. Bragdon discusses common features and significant differences among the Pawtucket, Massachusett, Nipmuck, Pocumtuck, Narragansett, Pokanoket, Niantic, Mohegan, and Pequot Indians. Her complex portrait, which employs both the perspective of European observers and important new evidence from archaeology and linguistics, shows that internally developed customs and values were primary determinants in the development of Native culture.

Native People of Southern New England, 1500–1650 (Volume 221) (The Civilization of the American Indian Series)

History

Bragdon, Kathleen J.

Americas

University of Oklahoma Press

Despite the popular assumption that Native American cultures in New England declined after Europeans arrived, evidence suggests that Indian communities continued to thrive alongside English colonists. In this sequel to her Native People of Southern New England, 1500–1650, Kathleen J. Bragdon continues the Indian story through the end of the colonial era and documents the impact of colonization.
As she traces changes in Native social, cultural, and economic life, Bragdon explores what it meant to be Indian in colonial southern New England. Contrary to common belief, Bragdon argues, Indianness meant continuing Native lives and lifestyles, however distinct from those of the newcomers. She recreates Indian cosmology, moral values, community organization, and material culture to demonstrate that networks based on kinship, marriage, traditional residence patterns, and work all fostered a culture resistant to assimilation.
Bragdon draws on the writings and reported speech of Indians to counter what colonists claimed to be signs of assimilation. She shows that when Indians adopted English cultural forms—such as Christianity and writing—they did so on their own terms, using these alternative tools for expressing their own ideas about power and the spirit world.
Despite warfare, disease epidemics, and colonists’ attempts at cultural suppression, distinctive Indian cultures persisted. Bragdon’s scholarship gives us new insight into both the history of the tribes of southern New England and the nature of cultural contact.

Native People of Southern New England, 1650–1775 (Volume 259) (The Civilization of the American Indian Series)

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Bragdon, Kathleen J.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Bragdon, Kathleen J.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Bragdon, Kathleen J.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Native People of Southern New England, 1500–1650 (Volume 221) (The Civilization of the American Indian Series)

Native People of Southern New England, 1500–1650 (Volume 221) (The Civilization of the American Indian Series)

Native People of Southern New England, 1650–1775 (Volume 259) (The Civilization of the American Indian Series)