******************** POSTING RULES & NOTES ******************** #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. *****************************************************************
Best regards, Andrew Stewart Begin forwarded message: > From: H-Net Staff via H-REVIEW <[email protected]> > Date: January 24, 2019 at 6:59:36 PM EST > To: [email protected] > Cc: H-Net Staff <[email protected]> > Subject: H-Net Review [H-War]: Sparacio on Frank and Crothers, 'Borderland > Narratives: Negotiation and Accommodation in North America's Contested > Spaces, 1500-1850' > Reply-To: [email protected] > > Andrew K. Frank, A. Glenn Crothers, eds. Borderland Narratives: > Negotiation and Accommodation in North America's Contested Spaces, > 1500-1850. Contested Boundaries Series. Tallahassee University > Press of Florida, 2017. 224 pp. $74.95 (cloth), ISBN > 978-0-8130-5495-7. > > Reviewed by Matthew Sparacio (Auburn University) > Published on H-War (January, 2019) > Commissioned by Margaret Sankey > > Borderlands of Faith, Race, and Violence > > What constitutes a borderland? Historians have debated whether or not > a borderland should be considered a binary dividing line scattered > with specific "contact points" or broad zones of interaction, whether > they should be confined to only one region of study or applied > broadly to the American colonial experience.[1] The studies included > in Andrew K. Frank and A. Glenn Crothers's new edited volume, > _Borderland Narratives: Negotiation and Accommodation in North > America's Contested Spaces, 1500-1850_, offer refreshing > contributions to this debate, illustrating how borderlands can > operate as both products and processes of colonization. In > particular, Frank and Crothers answer Claudio Saunt's 2008 _William > & Mary Quarterly_ rejoinder against the neglect of scholarly > attention west of the British Eastern Seaboard colonies by arguing > for the inclusion of the Ohio River Valley, a "region infrequently > considered a borderland" (p. 9).[2] The Ohio River Valley, they > argue, proved massively important because the diversity of the region > was both indicative and reflective of the experiences that shaped > what historian and director of the Omohundro Institute of Early > American History and Culture Karin Wulf has coined > #vastearlyamerica.[3] > > As the studies in _Borderland Narratives_ make clear, these products > and processes can be defined along religious, racial, environmental, > and military lines. Borderlands not only were politically defined but > also came to represent important areas "where empires of belief vied > for ascendency" in early America (p. 174). Using missionary > correspondence in his chapter, Michael Pasquier examines the gray > area between the prescriptions of the Catholic Church and the lived > experience by missionaries in the diocese of Bardstown, Kentucky, > revealing how the latter exemplified the institutional limitations of > the former. Missionaries grew frustrated with the false expectations > they harbored--shaped in large part by the _Jesuit Relations_--and > priests in Bardstown "struggled to feel at home" (p. 137). The > unwillingness of indigenous peoples to readily accept Catholicism > compounded this spatial and emotional disconnection, contributing to > a spiritual crisis among missionaries who came to view their own lack > of apparent success in intercultural proselytism as indictments of > their individual failures as Catholics. > > If the example of Bardstown highlighted the way borderlands > functioned to constrict religious institutions, Philip Mulder's > chapter illustrates how these same environments also served as sites > of spiritual opportunity. However, the spiritual opportunities > afforded by the Ohio River Valley contributed to denominational > factionalism. For example, Presbyterian minister (and affiliate of > the Connecticut Missionary Society) Joseph Badger's acceptance of > emotive outdoor meetings brought him into conflict with fellow > Presbyterians. Men like Badger who preached a syncretic message that > clearly demonstrated genuine concern for native families, however, > proved the exception in the religiously contested Ohio River Valley, > as Baptists and Methodists disregarded moderation and accommodation, > instead demanding complete cultural transformations of both natives > and settlers. Taken together, Pasquier's and Mulder's studies serve > as useful reminders that spiritual fault lines defined borderlands > well into the nineteenth century. > > Like religious identity, racial identity figured prominently in early > American borderlands, shaping communities and everyday life. In his > chapter, Frank notes the liminal place of African Americans within > the process of Seminole ethnogenesis. In general, African American > communities offered the Seminoles tribute for protection, paralleling > the "daughter town" phenomenon practiced by much of the native South. > Yet by the nineteenth century--and especially after western > removal--the decline in African American infusions into Seminole > communities galvanized a distinctly "native" Seminole identity that > moved away from the multiethnic definition that preceded it. > > At the same time racial identity hardened in native Florida, Cyprian > Clamorgan's life highlighted the legal and jurisdictional fluidity > present in the borderlands of St. Louis. As Julie Winch shows, > exceptional men like Clamorgan could navigate major port cities by > claiming status as a free black due to their skin color. They could > also potentially weaponize their identity through print culture in > order to secure legal outcomes, like when Clamorgan threatened to > reveal the racial impurity of many influential St. Louis bloodlines. > The case of Clamorgan, himself a product of generations of (mostly > unhappy) interracial relationships, demonstrates how "circumstances > (and identities) would change swiftly in the racial borderlands for > those who had the option to refashion their lives" (p. 205). > > Tyler Boulware notes the importance of horses to the many > southeastern tribes, reminding scholars that an equine revolution > with significant environmental consequences occurred all throughout > Native America and not simply among the Plains Indians. In addition > to martial purposes, horses (especially the Spanish barb) proved an > essential component to the southeastern exchange economy because they > allowed for easier hunting. Boulware expands the focus of James T. > Carson's previous work on the Choctaw horse economy to include all > the native South, explaining how local environments dictated the > borderland trade, resulting in distinctive cultural accoutrements > among the various southeastern Indians.[4] Like Carson beforehand, he > argues that horses were not exclusively used for masculine endeavors > but also significantly altered women's work. Boulware also brings > Virginia DeJohn Anderson's argument in _Creatures of Empire: How > Domestic Animals Transformed Early America_ (2006) that animals acted > as agents of empire into the late eighteenth and nineteenth > centuries, detailing how Americans often used horses to "compromise > treaty lines" (p. 87). > > Most settlers and Euro-American administrators believed the > borderlands to be contested places and sites of political and > military significance. Authority was not simply declared, as Rob > Harper shows in his chapter on Ohio Valley frontier politicking. He > illustrates how coalition building proved a necessary practice in the > decade leading up to the American Revolution because "the weakness of > formal political institutions made the 'power' of individuals > contingent upon their relationships with others" (p. 21). This was > not an easy endeavor, as many practices stood in the way of coalition > building: the diversity of separate communities and the distrust this > fostered; different languages to translate; individual agency (or, on > a larger scale, outright factionalism); and the agendas of patronage > networks. Colonial and native leaders maintained a delicate peace in > spite of these factors. However, increasing levels of settler > migrations into these lands accounted for the militant about-face of > Ohio native leaders, such as Logan (Haudenosaunee) and Guyasuta > (Seneca). Native responses in turn required deft coalition building > on behalf of Virginia colonial governor Dunmore by men like Daniel > Boone and George Croghan. Ultimately, these men relied on maintaining > peaceful relations with specific native communities to nominally > assert Virginia's claims to authority. While Harper's coalition > framework is a useful reminder of historians' (still) prevalent > deployment of Richard White's foundational "middle ground" thesis, it > can be further decolonized. If viewed east from Indian country, were > not the "lines of ethnicity" and kinship--the "informal networks" > Harper classifies as essential to coalition building--already > considered by Native Americans as formal and legitimate frameworks? > > Efforts at coalition building continued into the nineteenth century, > as Rebekah Mergenthal explains, but were driven more by economic > necessity than political claims. Recovering the contingency of > settlers, slaves, and Native Americans along a thirty-mile stretch in > the Missouri River Valley, she outlines the efforts of local whites > and Indian interests to bypass federal discouragement of the hiring > out of slaves across borders. While the US government feared > potential collusion among nonwhites, Mergenthal notes that these > groups rarely worked in concert. Native slaveholding preferences gave > their western lands "little appeal" to the enslaved looking for > freedom (p. 134). Therefore, blacks rarely escaped to Indian country; > instead they chose to flee east to Illinois or north to Iowa. > Division on this issue was present not only between groups but also > within them: there was often disagreement among native peoples, who > sought as much distance between themselves and settler communities, > and their chiefs, who at times gravitated toward the agendas of > missionary groups like the Quakers and Methodists. > > Perhaps the most original contribution to this volume, and of special > interest to scholars of war and society, is Carla Gerona's > reimagining of the contact period along the Gulf Coast and Texas. > Gerona argues for the usefulness in deploying _los desaparecidos_ > (the disappeared) terminology associated with the twentieth-century > Latin American military coups in Argentina and Chile to the contact > era because "disappearances came to mark the borderlands for > Spaniards and Indians alike" (p. 97). Relying on early travel > accounts to Florida and Texas, Gerona claims that grappling with _los > desaparecidos_ became a "known fact of life" in early America (p. > 99). War, disease, and forced flight created for both groups new > environments that grew increasingly empty and desolate, defined more > by the people who were absent than those present. This provocative > reinterpretation addresses the main components of the "shatter zone" > framework posited by Robbie Ethridge and may also provide scholars a > deeper understanding of the individual personal traumas and feelings > of displacement that became "the most central and significant factors > shaping borderlands" (p. 116).[5] While many chapters in _Borderland > Narratives_ speak to the opportunities afforded by these spaces, > Gerona reminds us that borderlands also represented sites of loss, > disorientation, and anguish. > > _Borderlands Narratives_ is an important collection that scholars of > early America must take seriously. Its individual chapters are well > suited for advanced undergraduate and graduate seminars across a > variety of fields, including Native American studies, the history of > colonialism, diplomatic history, and environmental history. In > particular, graduate students reviewing for comprehensive exams will > be hard-pressed to find a more nuanced historiographic primer on > frontier and borderlands studies than Frank and Crothers's > introduction to this volume. The contributions in _Borderlands > Narratives_ will continue to push historians to reevaluate and > question our assumptions about the crossroads of life in > #vastearlyamerica. > > Notes > > [1]. Andrew R. L. Cayton and Fredrika J. Teute, eds., _Contact > Points: American Frontiers from the Mohawk Valley to the Mississippi, > 1750-1830_ (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press for the > Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture, 1998). > > [2]. Claudio Saunt, "Go West: Mapping Early American Historiography," > _The William and Mary Quarterly_, 3rd ser., 65, no. 4 (October 2008): > 745-778. > > [3]. Karin Wulf, "For 2016, Appreciating #VastEarlyAmerica," > _Uncommon Sense - The Blog_ (blog), January 4, 2016, > https://blog.oieahc.wm.edu/for-2016-appreciating-vastearlyamerica/. > > [4]. James Taylor Carson, "Horses and the Economy and Culture of the > Choctaw Indians, 1690-1840," _Ethnohistory_ 42, no. 3 (Summer 1995): > 495-513. > > [5]. Robbie Ethridge, "Introduction: Mapping the Mississippian > Shatter Zone," in _Mapping the Mississippian Shatter Zone: The > Colonial Indian Slave Trade and Regional Instability in the American > South_, ed. Robbie Ethridge and Sheri M. Shuck-Hall (Lincoln: > University of Nebraska Press, 2009), 1-62. > > Citation: Matthew Sparacio. Review of Frank, Andrew K.; Crothers, A. > Glenn, eds., _Borderland Narratives: Negotiation and Accommodation in > North America's Contested Spaces, 1500-1850_. H-War, H-Net Reviews. > January, 2019. > URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=53521 > > This work is licensed under a Creative Commons > Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States > License. > > _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
