Firsting and Lasting

Writing Indians out of Existence in New England

Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Cultural Studies, Native American Studies, History, Americas, Native American
Cover of the book Firsting and Lasting by Jean M. O’Brien, University of Minnesota Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Jean M. O’Brien ISBN: 9781452915258
Publisher: University of Minnesota Press Publication: May 10, 2010
Imprint: Univ Of Minnesota Press Language: English
Author: Jean M. O’Brien
ISBN: 9781452915258
Publisher: University of Minnesota Press
Publication: May 10, 2010
Imprint: Univ Of Minnesota Press
Language: English
Across nineteenth-century New England, antiquarians and community leaders wrote hundreds of local histories about the founding and growth of their cities and towns. Ranging from pamphlets to multivolume treatments, these narratives shared a preoccupation with establishing the region as the cradle of an Anglo-Saxon nation and the center of a modern American culture. They also insisted, often in mournful tones, that New England’s original inhabitants, the Indians, had become extinct, even though many Indians still lived in the very towns being chronicled.
 
In Firsting and Lasting, Jean M. O’Brien argues that local histories became a primary means by which European Americans asserted their own modernity while denying it to Indian peoples. Erasing and then memorializing Indian peoples also served a more pragmatic colonial goal: refuting Indian claims to land and rights. Drawing on more than six hundred local histories from Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island written between 1820 and 1880, as well as censuses, monuments, and accounts of historical pageants and commemorations, O’Brien explores how these narratives inculcated the myth of Indian extinction, a myth that has stubbornly remained in the American consciousness.
 
In order to convince themselves that the Indians had vanished despite their continued presence, O’Brien finds that local historians and their readers embraced notions of racial purity rooted in the century’s scientific racism and saw living Indians as “mixed” and therefore no longer truly Indian. Adaptation to modern life on the part of Indian peoples was used as further evidence of their demise. Indians did not—and have not—accepted this effacement, and O’Brien details how Indians have resisted their erasure through narratives of their own. These debates and the rich and surprising history uncovered in O’Brien’s work continue to have a profound influence on discourses about race and indigenous rights.
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Across nineteenth-century New England, antiquarians and community leaders wrote hundreds of local histories about the founding and growth of their cities and towns. Ranging from pamphlets to multivolume treatments, these narratives shared a preoccupation with establishing the region as the cradle of an Anglo-Saxon nation and the center of a modern American culture. They also insisted, often in mournful tones, that New England’s original inhabitants, the Indians, had become extinct, even though many Indians still lived in the very towns being chronicled.
 
In Firsting and Lasting, Jean M. O’Brien argues that local histories became a primary means by which European Americans asserted their own modernity while denying it to Indian peoples. Erasing and then memorializing Indian peoples also served a more pragmatic colonial goal: refuting Indian claims to land and rights. Drawing on more than six hundred local histories from Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island written between 1820 and 1880, as well as censuses, monuments, and accounts of historical pageants and commemorations, O’Brien explores how these narratives inculcated the myth of Indian extinction, a myth that has stubbornly remained in the American consciousness.
 
In order to convince themselves that the Indians had vanished despite their continued presence, O’Brien finds that local historians and their readers embraced notions of racial purity rooted in the century’s scientific racism and saw living Indians as “mixed” and therefore no longer truly Indian. Adaptation to modern life on the part of Indian peoples was used as further evidence of their demise. Indians did not—and have not—accepted this effacement, and O’Brien details how Indians have resisted their erasure through narratives of their own. These debates and the rich and surprising history uncovered in O’Brien’s work continue to have a profound influence on discourses about race and indigenous rights.

More books from University of Minnesota Press

Cover of the book California Mission Landscapes by Jean M. O’Brien
Cover of the book Tony Oliva by Jean M. O’Brien
Cover of the book The Language of Plants by Jean M. O’Brien
Cover of the book When the Hills Are Gone by Jean M. O’Brien
Cover of the book Against Purity by Jean M. O’Brien
Cover of the book Vacationland by Jean M. O’Brien
Cover of the book Ecology without Culture by Jean M. O’Brien
Cover of the book Key Change by Jean M. O’Brien
Cover of the book Aberrations in Black by Jean M. O’Brien
Cover of the book No Speed Limit by Jean M. O’Brien
Cover of the book Seeking Spatial Justice by Jean M. O’Brien
Cover of the book Compulsory by Jean M. O’Brien
Cover of the book Policing Space by Jean M. O’Brien
Cover of the book Midnight at the Barrelhouse by Jean M. O’Brien
Cover of the book Screens by Jean M. O’Brien
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy