eBook

Wild Frenchmen and Frenchified Indians

White, Sophie

2013,2012

Overview

Based on a sweeping range of archival, visual, and material evidence,Wild Frenchmen and Frenchified Indiansexamines perceptions of Indians in French colonial Louisiana and demonstrates that material culture-especially dress-was central to the elaboration of discourses about race. At the heart of France's seventeenth-century plans for colonizing New France was a formal policy-Frenchification. Intended to turn Indians into Catholic subjects of the king, it also carried with it the belief that Indians could become French through religion, language, and culture. This fluid and mutable conception of identity carried a risk: while Indians had the potential to become French, the French could themselves be transformed into Indians. French officials had effectively admitted defeat of their policy by the time Louisiana became a province of New France in 1682. But it was here, in Upper Louisiana, that proponents of French-Indian intermarriage finally claimed some success with Frenchification. For supporters, proof of the policy's success lay in the appearance and material possessions of Indian wives and daughters of Frenchmen. Through a sophisticated interdisciplinary approach to the material sources,Wild Frenchmen and Frenchified Indiansoffers a distinctive and original reading of the contours and chronology of racialization in early America. While focused on Louisiana, the methodological model offered in this innovative book shows that dress can take center stage in the investigation of colonial societies-for the process of colonization was built on encounters mediated by appearance.

• Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc,University of Pennsylvania Press
• Subject: 17th century / 18th century / catholic / Clothing and dress / Clothing and dress -- Social aspects -- Louisiana -- History -- 18th century / colonial louisiana / Colonial Period (1600-1775) / culture / dress / early america / Ethnic Studies / france french colonialism / French / French -- Louisiana -- History -- 18th century / frenchification / gender / HISTORY / HISTORY / World / illinois / Indians of North America / Indians of North America -- Louisiana -- History -- 18th century / indigenous / Latin American / Louisiana / Louisiana -- Race relations -- History -- 18th century / marriage / Material culture / Material culture -- Louisiana -- History -- 18th century / native american Indian history studies / Native American Studies / northeast / Race awareness / Race awareness -- Louisiana -- History -- 18th century / Race relations / religion language / Social aspects / SOCIAL SCIENCE / SOCIAL SCIENCE / Sociology / General / southeast / United States
• ISBN: 9780812244373, 0812244370, 9780812223088, 081222308X, 9780812207170, 0812207173