English Letters and Indian Literacies

Reading, Writing, and New England Missionary Schools, 1750-1830

Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism, Native American, American
Cover of the book English Letters and Indian Literacies by Hilary E. Wyss, University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc.
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Hilary E. Wyss ISBN: 9780812206036
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc. Publication: July 17, 2012
Imprint: University of Pennsylvania Press Language: English
Author: Hilary E. Wyss
ISBN: 9780812206036
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc.
Publication: July 17, 2012
Imprint: University of Pennsylvania Press
Language: English

As rigid and unforgiving as the boarding schools established for the education of Native Americans could be, the intellectuals who engaged with these schools—including Mohegans Samson Occom and Joseph Johnson, and Montauketts David and Jacob Fowler in the eighteenth century, and Cherokees Catharine and David Brown in the nineteenth—became passionate advocates for Native community as a political and cultural force. From handwriting exercises to Cherokee Syllabary texts, Native students negotiated a variety of pedagogical practices and technologies, using their hard-won literacy skills for their own purposes. By examining the materials of literacy—primers, spellers, ink, paper, and instructional manuals—as well as the products of literacy—letters, journals, confessions, reports, and translations—English Letters and Indian Literacies explores the ways boarding schools were, for better or worse, a radical experiment in cross-cultural communication.

Focusing on schools established by New England missionaries, first in southern New England and later among the Cherokees, Hilary E. Wyss explores both the ways this missionary culture attempted to shape and define Native literacy and the Native response to their efforts. She examines the tropes of "readerly" Indians—passive and grateful recipients of an English cultural model—and "writerly" Indians—those fluent in the colonial culture but also committed to Native community as a political and cultural concern—to develop a theory of literacy and literate practice that complicates and enriches the study of Native self-expression. Wyss's literary readings of archival sources, published works, and correspondence incorporate methods from gender studies, the history of the book, indigenous intellectual history, and transatlantic American studies.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

As rigid and unforgiving as the boarding schools established for the education of Native Americans could be, the intellectuals who engaged with these schools—including Mohegans Samson Occom and Joseph Johnson, and Montauketts David and Jacob Fowler in the eighteenth century, and Cherokees Catharine and David Brown in the nineteenth—became passionate advocates for Native community as a political and cultural force. From handwriting exercises to Cherokee Syllabary texts, Native students negotiated a variety of pedagogical practices and technologies, using their hard-won literacy skills for their own purposes. By examining the materials of literacy—primers, spellers, ink, paper, and instructional manuals—as well as the products of literacy—letters, journals, confessions, reports, and translations—English Letters and Indian Literacies explores the ways boarding schools were, for better or worse, a radical experiment in cross-cultural communication.

Focusing on schools established by New England missionaries, first in southern New England and later among the Cherokees, Hilary E. Wyss explores both the ways this missionary culture attempted to shape and define Native literacy and the Native response to their efforts. She examines the tropes of "readerly" Indians—passive and grateful recipients of an English cultural model—and "writerly" Indians—those fluent in the colonial culture but also committed to Native community as a political and cultural concern—to develop a theory of literacy and literate practice that complicates and enriches the study of Native self-expression. Wyss's literary readings of archival sources, published works, and correspondence incorporate methods from gender studies, the history of the book, indigenous intellectual history, and transatlantic American studies.

More books from University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc.

Cover of the book American Georgics by Hilary E. Wyss
Cover of the book Louisiana by Hilary E. Wyss
Cover of the book Dangerous Minds by Hilary E. Wyss
Cover of the book Lucretia Mott's Heresy by Hilary E. Wyss
Cover of the book Colonial Complexions by Hilary E. Wyss
Cover of the book Women as Unseen Characters by Hilary E. Wyss
Cover of the book The Swahili by Hilary E. Wyss
Cover of the book Corporate Governance Failures by Hilary E. Wyss
Cover of the book Black Walden by Hilary E. Wyss
Cover of the book An Infinity of Nations by Hilary E. Wyss
Cover of the book Family Values and the Rise of the Christian Right by Hilary E. Wyss
Cover of the book Expectations of Justice in the Age of Augustine by Hilary E. Wyss
Cover of the book The Academic Job Search Handbook by Hilary E. Wyss
Cover of the book Faithful Republic by Hilary E. Wyss
Cover of the book Medieval Boundaries by Hilary E. Wyss
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