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

Bragdon, Kathleen J.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0806128038 ISBN 13: 9780806128030

Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press, 1996

Synopsis

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.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

This is the first comprehensive study of American Indians of southern New England from 1500 to 1650. Focusing on Natives in their own right, rather than on their relationship with Europeans, anthropologist Kathleen J. Bragdon portrays a unique people who maintained and developed their own culture despite the advancement of colonization. Ninnimissinuok is the term Bragdon uses to designate the Natives of southern New England, who include the Pawtucket, Massachussett, Nipmuck, Pocumtuck, Narragansett, Pokanoket, Niantic, Mohegan, and Pequot. Bragdon discusses the common features of these groups as well as their significant differences. To draw such a complex portrait, she makes frequent reference to the writings of European observers but balances that perspective with important evidence, some of it entirely new, from archaeology and linguistics. As a result, she corrects stereotypes of American Indians, both negative and positive, that originated from outsiders and persist to the present day. Although she acknowledges the impact of the Europeans, Bragdon shows how internally developed customs and values were the primary determinants in the development of Native culture. Employing current theory in anthropology and ethnohistory, Bragdon illuminates various aspects of Ninnimissinuok life, such as diet, farming and hunting, trade, diplomacy, politics, language, and spirituality. Of particular interest is her analysis of the role of Ninnimissinuok women, who contributed enormously to the economy of the region yet whose status was not commensurate with that of men. With its wealth of detail on all aspects of southern New England Native life and its wide selection of drawings, photographs, andmaps, this book is an indispensable reference for scholars as well as for anyone wishing to know more about the region's rich cultural past.

About the Author:

Kathleen J. Bragdon is Professor of Anthropology at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, and the author of Native People of Southern New England, 1500–1650, winner of the Erminie Wheeler-Voegelin Prize of the American Society for Ethnohistory.

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0806128038
• ISBN 13: 9780806128030
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 330