Native Acts: Indian Performance, 1603-1832

Introduction

Introduction Laura L. Mielke Forcefully captured by Powhatan Indians while on a mission to locate the source of the Chickahominy River, Captain John Smith was held prisoner for a little over three weeks by the Jamestown colony’s Native neighbors. The turning point in his captivity occurred after a three-day ceremony in which a priest, attended by dancers in paint, skins, and feathers, carefully placed meal, grains of corn, and sticks in circles around a fire and delivered a series of orations in order to disclose the captive’s intentions toward his people. Smith was then finally brought before their “Emperor” (whom he called Powhatan after the tribe’s name) and a group of men and women gathered in the “great house.” Smith, referring to himself in the third person, wrote in his 1624 account of the event that, after feasting and cleaning his hands, a long consultation was held, but the conclusion was, two great stones were brought before Powhatan: then as many as could layd hands on [Smith], dragged him to them, and thereon laid his head, and being ready with their clubs, to beate out his braines, Pocahontas the Kings dearest daughter, when no intreaty could prevaile, got his head in her armes, and laid her owne upon his to save him from death: whereat the Emperour was contented he should live to make him hatchets, and her bells, beads, and copper; for they thought him as well of all occupations as themselves.1 [2] Laura L. Mielke Two days following his daughter’s apparent intervention in Smith’s execution, Powhatan formalized a friendship with Smith and allowed the captain to return to Jamestown. Reading Smith’s account of the event today, one confronts, among other things, the “unique epistemological challenge” of extracting Indian actions and intentions from texts penned by European colonizers.2 One wonders what Pocahontas, an eleven-year-old girl whose actual name was Matoaka (Pocahontas being a child’s nickname), intended by her actions and what she accomplished in reality. One might very well ask: what did this young woman perform before her leader and father, his captive, and the audience gathered in the great house at Werowocomoco? And to ask this question about Native performance is to reflect on the complexity of the scene Smith reports and the variety of scholarly interpretations it has received in recent decades. To perform, of course, means to present something (like dance, drama, or music) on stage or to an audience. It also means, in the transitive sense, to carry out something promised or commanded or, more broadly, to carry out a particular action or function. Finally, it can denote the formal or solemn execution of a public function, ceremony, or ritual.3 For those historians who consider Smith’s report to be truthful and accurate and his interpretation of events valid, the bold young Pocahontas acted impulsively and sincerely, challenging the authority of her father and of Powhatan custom in order to preserve the life of the fascinating visitor. For others, Smith misinterpreted a Powhatan adoption ceremony—a ritual purification and staging of near death followed by incorporation—wherein Pocahontas played a sacred role. If Smith willfully misrepresented the scene, it is likely that he did so to create a text promoting Virginia colonization and his invaluable connections and expertise. Still other historians, emphasizing the purpose Introduction [3] of Smith’s Virginia accounts, have charged the shape-shifting captain with fabrication and described the scene as an instance of Smith taking up the theatrical role of colonial hero. In this respect, the passage and the events it describes turn on the complex and perhaps indistinguishable interaction of diverse performances: by Pocahontas, by her father and people, by Smith himself, and by his transatlantic readers.4 The Pocahontas story and the controversial nature of Smith’s account elucidate the central undertaking of this book: the elusive but necessary recovery of Native people’s role in the intercultural performative contexts of the colonial Americas, often (and necessarily) through texts that are themselves complex performances from within intercultural contexts.5 Traditionally , Smith’s account of the Powhatan girl’s actions has been read in ways that minimize Indians’ participation in these contexts; the tale of a noble young Indian woman driven by love to save the European and embrace the Christian civilization he represents has provided an allegory for providential European ascendance that incorporates and...