Dispossession by Degrees
Indian Land and Identity in Natick, Massachusetts, 1650–1790

O'Brien examines the centrality of land in both the transformation and persistence of Indian identity in New England.

Jean M. O'Brien (Author)

9780521561723, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 28 February 1997

304 pages, 11 b/w illus. 3 maps
23.5 x 15.6 x 1.7 cm, 0.53 kg

"emphasizes the importance of soverignty to the preseverance of native peoples. She carefully reconstructs the history of the most prominent Indian communties in early New England-the "Praying Town" of Natick Massachuetts... Dispossesion by Degrees is convincing. O'Brien is at her best when she presents her meticulous original research into Natick records. She carefully reads the sources for subtexts and perceives their ideological function as English propaganda. Even so, she succeeds in extracting from these sources evidence of Natick people's preseverance and resourcefulness." Tearsheet From William & Mary Quarterly

According to Jean O'Brien, Indians did not simply disappear from colonial Natick, Massachusetts as the English extended their domination. Rather, the Indians creatively resisted colonialism, defended their lands, and rebuilt kin networks and community through the strategic use of English cultural practices and institutions. In the late eighteenth century, Natick Indians experienced a process of 'dispossession by degrees' that rendered them invisible within the larger context of the colonial social order, and enabled the construction of the myth of Indian extinction.

Prologue: 'My Land': Natick and the Narrative of Indian Extinction
Chapter 1: Peoples, Land, and Social Order
Chapter 2: The Sinews and the Flesh: Natick Comes Together, 1650–1675
Chapter 3: 'Friend Indians': Negotiating Colonial Rules, 1676–1700
Chapter 4: Divided In Their Desires
Chapter 5: Interlude: The Proprietary Families
Chapter 6: 'They Are So Frequently Shifting Their Place Of Residence': Natick Indians, 1741–1790
Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Early modern history: c 1450/1500 to c 1700 [HBLH], History of the Americas [HBJK]