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486 THE CANADIAN HISTORICAL REVIEW thesis isa fascinating one,full of complexity asindeedanythesis describing change overseveralcenturies wouldbe, and Griffithsdeserves creditfor evenattempting such a task. However,recitalsof individualwomenwho'made'it are simplynot sufficient proof that seventeenth-century society wasnon sexist, assimilarincidences canbe found in anycentury.Neither are the magicwordsindustrialization and urbanizationsatisfactory ascausal explanations ofthechange. A muchmoredetailedanalysis isrequiredbut Griffithsisunwillingto provideit. Her statedaimisdescriptive. Yet surelysomeattemptat explanationcouldhavebeenmade?Were the lawsof the seventeenth centuryreallylessdiscriminatory againstwomenthan thoseof the eighteenth andnineteenth centuries? If true,couldonepossible explanation bethat womenin theeighteenth andnineteenth centuries werechallenging theirposition andthatthelegalprejudice against themwasarearguardaction onthepartofamale dominatedsociety? How influentialwasthe trend to role specialization? Alison Prenticehasargued'it wouldappearthat a majorconcernof nineteenthcentury ideologues in WesternSociety wasthe carvingoutof special spheres in the labour marketfor allsorts andclasses of people.Astheideaof class became moreandmore powerful,womentoobeganto be regardedasa class of society, suitedfor certain typesof workandnotfor others.'Partof thiswasthechange from a society which emphasized thecommunity toonewhichemphasized theindividual,achangewhich canbe tracedin the historyof the family.Certainlyunderstanding the familyisa centralconcern, for oncewomanbecomes isolated in thefamilythedynamic which Griffithsisatpainstostress, thechange fromdiscrimination toprejudice, occurs. At timesGriffithsalludes totheseconcerns butneitherdevelops themnorbringsthem together inacoherent synthesis. The resultisthat,despite themanyinteresting ideas presented in Penelope's Web, the readerisleft frustratedby the lackof sufficient documentation andanalysis. WENDY MITCHIN$ON MountSaintVincent University La Conversion parl'image: unaspect delamission des Jdsuites aupr•s des Indiens duCanada auXVIIe si•cle. FV•NC3OIS-M^RC g^GNON. Montreal,LesEditionsBellarmin,•975. PP. •4 •, illus. TheJesuit missionaries ofNewFrance strike usasforceful manipulators oftheword. 'Jesuitical' smacks of shrewdargumentand deviousdebate.We tend to seetheir successes withtheIndiansastriumphsof rationalpersuasion, wonwithdefttongues andrhetorical ingenuity. Certainlythereisanelement oftruthinourstereotype, but Franqois-Marc Gagnon reminds usthatthemissionaries appealed successfully tothe eyeaswellastotheear.In thehistoryof culturalcontact in New France,heargues, theuseofreligious images - intableaux, banners, prints,charts, games, andbooks mustbeaccorded animportantchapter.AsFatherLeJeuneacknowledged in •637, 'lessainctes figuressontlamoiti• del'instruction qu'onpeutdonnerauxSauvages.' One inspiration of theJesuits' pedagogical useof images wasMichelLe Nobletz REVIEWS 487 (•577-•652), a roving missionaryamongthe lower classes of his nativeBrittany. Nobletzpaintednumerousparchment'cartes' depictingreligiousthemesand Biblicalhistoryasvisualaidsin catechism. In adoptinghisgeneralideatotheNewWorld, theJesuitsreplacedhissmall,crowdedscenes with simplerrenderingsaccommodatedto Indian tastes. Beardswerecroppedor removed,hair becameshortand straight, bodies weredrapedless completely in brightredorbluegarments (yellow and greenwerereservedfor snakes anddragons),and profileswereturned face frontbecause thenatives believed - atleast initially- thatthepeopleportrayedwere living,capableof speaking to the priests, revealingthe future, and followingthe Indians'movements withtheireyes. Gagnonrecognizes twodifferentuses of images. In theearliest stages of contact, whenthemissionaries resided withtheIndians,images wereused primarilytoarouse the natives' curiosity andto instructthemin the elements of Catholicism. When an initialcadreof converts hadbeenformedin thevillageor drawnoff to a Christian reserve,imageswereusedlessto instructthan to confirmthe neophytes' symbolic acceptance of the new cult. Without constantinstruction,however,the Indians interpretedthe newsymbols in oldways,frustratingthe priests' desirefor change with syncretism. Until their whole mental and socialuniversewasreconstructed of European materials, thenatives continued toequatethenewmagicwiththeirown.The priests' taskwasto convince themthattheChristianreligionwasmorepowerfulandmore malevolent if denied.Believing that'lacrainteestl'avancouriere dela foy,dansces esprits barbares,' theJesuits favoredgruesome depictions of damnedsouls writhing in firesthat dwarfedin intensitythe familiartorturesof their enemies. The visual translation of Christianconcepts succeeded wherewordscouldnot. Had the missionaries beenableto accept nativemodes of art,Gagnonfeels,theirsuccess might havebeengreater. Asitwas, conflict orsyncretism, neverculturaldialogue, werethe onlyalternatives, andtheIndiansstoodtolosebyboth. Gagnon's degrees in theologyandthehistoryof art standhim in goodstead.His research iswide,hisarguments convincing, andhiscriticalinsights sharp.Unfortunately ,hisshortbook- whichwonthe •972 Saint-Marieprize- suffersfrom long quotati6ns,a few errorsin pagereferences, and inflationby biographical and arthistoricaldigressions . For example,a chapterdevotedto ClaudeChaucheti•re,the paintingpriestofSault-Saint-Louis, deals onlywithhismissing portraitofCatherine Tekakouithaandignoreshisvividillustrations of the mission's history.The artistic significance of religious medalsandringsislikewise ignored.Nevertheless, thisisa hearteningforayintotheethnohistory of North Americanart. JAMES AXTELL Evanston,Ill. TheRoleof theChurch in NewFrance.CORNELIUS J.JAENEN. Toronto, McGraw-Hill Ryerson,•976. Pp.x, •8•. L'ceuvre brosse un tableaud'ensemble del'influencedel'•gliseenNouvelle-France. ...

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