Cherokee Women Analysis
Although its title implies otherwise, this is not a history that focuses solely on female life. Instead, Cherokee Women: Gender and Culture Change, 1700-1835 rewrites the history of the Cherokee people both by placing women in the forefront and by showing how gender affected the Native culture and Cherokee-American relations. In the process, Theda Perdue recasts the history of the "most civilized tribe" in terms of persisting traditions. As Perdue demonstrates, the world of Cherokee men and the world of Cherokee women, although interconnected in many ways, remained separate entities throughout the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. It was primarily through the female domain and gender norms that cultural persistence prevailed.
This …show more content…
In the process, however, she rarely confronts the construct of race. Although Perdue describes the eighteenth-century belief in mutable racial identities--thus the ability of Indians to become Americans--she rarely incorporates this mutability into her analysis. As several recent scholars have shown, race and gender have interconnected histories in the American South. The religious and secular assault on Cherokee culture in the eighteenth and early nineteenth century was premised on the idea of making Native women act like respectable white women. When it became clear that the Cherokees refused to abandon traditional gender norms, American reformers rationalized it with the ideology of an immutable Indian race. It remains the task of future scholars to unite race and gender in the history of the Cherokee people and Cherokee-American …show more content…
It is essential reading for scholars of Native America, the American South, the Early Republic, and Women's History. When it comes out in paper, hopefully sooner rather than later, undergraduates will also benefit from Perdue's persuasive use of gender to uncover the previously hidden histories and themes within Cherokee society. This new perspective reveals that most Cherokees never adopted American civilization; they adapted it to fit into their traditional world view. Although the title "most civilized tribe" might not fade from the historical lexicon, Perdue proves that it
This …show more content…
In the process, however, she rarely confronts the construct of race. Although Perdue describes the eighteenth-century belief in mutable racial identities--thus the ability of Indians to become Americans--she rarely incorporates this mutability into her analysis. As several recent scholars have shown, race and gender have interconnected histories in the American South. The religious and secular assault on Cherokee culture in the eighteenth and early nineteenth century was premised on the idea of making Native women act like respectable white women. When it became clear that the Cherokees refused to abandon traditional gender norms, American reformers rationalized it with the ideology of an immutable Indian race. It remains the task of future scholars to unite race and gender in the history of the Cherokee people and Cherokee-American …show more content…
It is essential reading for scholars of Native America, the American South, the Early Republic, and Women's History. When it comes out in paper, hopefully sooner rather than later, undergraduates will also benefit from Perdue's persuasive use of gender to uncover the previously hidden histories and themes within Cherokee society. This new perspective reveals that most Cherokees never adopted American civilization; they adapted it to fit into their traditional world view. Although the title "most civilized tribe" might not fade from the historical lexicon, Perdue proves that it