Native People of Southern New England 1650–1775 (review)

Bragdon’s description of this volume as “a continuation” of her earlier work, Native Peoples of Southern New England, 1500–1650 (Norman, 1996) is much too modest a claim for this volume, which makes an original argument while weaving together linguistic, ethnographic, and historical (or ethnohistorical) methodologies. Bragdon draws upon decades of work with the Indian languages of southern New England to argue for persistent Native cultural distinctiveness. In contrast to scholarship that employs a tragic frame saturated with loss, Bragdon depicts natives as active participants in shaping vibrant futures despite the many challenges of the colonial encounter: “Cultural distinctiveness . . . did not simply ‘happen’ but was the result of active efforts, including resistance, accommodation, and [cultural] reemphasis” (xv).

Bragdon does that which few other historians and anthropologists have been able to achieve when working with cultures that suffered three centuries of European colonization: She starts with their languages. Never mind that Massachusett and the other languages of southern New England lost their last native speakers a century ago. Bragdon’s claim is that “most scholars have . . . echoed the findings of earlier racist or triumphalist interpretations, that Indians in New England disappeared or were absorbed or were robbed of any meaningful ways of expressing themselves and their groups’ identities” (232). In contrast, Bragdon argues that study of the language opens “a way into social relationships as well” (232). Thus, two initial chapters about native linguistic communities lead to detailed discussions of marriage and kinship, which gives way to modest explorations of race, material culture, and itinerancy, as well as a more extensive examination of the unintended impact of Christian conversion—literacy. Native literacy brought subversive effects, fostering the preservation of distinctive native practices, symbol systems, and communal values. Strangely missing from the work, however, is any mention of the several efforts launched by tribes in recent years to revitalize native languages—an effort that proves Bragdon’s point about the fallacy of narratives of tragic disappearance.

This collection may be tough going for those who are unfamiliar with the narratives of colonial New England’s native history. Bragdon’s style tends toward the episodic, sometimes slighting a full narration of the trajectory of historic events. Specialists might notice that citations for key pieces of evidence mentioned in the text are missing and that citations in the text are not always properly reconciled with works in the reference list.

That said, Bragdon has mastered a wide range of historical sources. Always at the center are the native-language documents from southeastern Massachusetts, which she skillfully integrates with archaeology, colonial history, native oral texts, and other materials. Specialists in native New England anthropology or even colonial ethnohistory will find this volume indispensable, and Bragdon’s able synthesis will likely prove a model case study for those interested in placing language at the center of the lived experience of colonized peoples.