Captive Selves, Captivating Others

This book reexamines the Anglo-American literary genre known as the "Indian captivity narrative" in the context of the complex historical practice of captivity across cultural borders in colonial North America. More familiar captivity narratives such as that of Capt. John Smith appear in a new light when read alongside less-familiar stories of captivity, particularly those concerning Native Americans captured by British explorers and colonists. This detailed and nuanced study of the construction of identity and difference is an important contribution to cultural studies, American studies, Native American studies, women's studies, ethnohistory, and anthropology.

First sentence: In a selective tradition that dates to the seventeenth century, Anglo-American identity is represented as the product of struggles in and against the wild: struggles of a collective Self surrounded by a threatening but enticing wilderness, a Self that seeks to domesticate this wilderness as well as the savagery within itself, and that opposes itself to Others Portrayed as savage, bestial, demonic,

Year

1999

Language

English

Publisher

Westview Pr (Short Disc)

Editions

2

Pages

261

ISBN

9780813316659

Data source: Wikidata