Reading Questions:

1. What is Spear’s thesis? What are the strengths and weaknesses of her argument?
2. What relationship does she see between the French discourses on race and sexuality?
3. How does she construct her argument concerning the French discourse on race? How does she approach the concept of "race?" What are the implications of the concept of "race?"
4. Why did French officials and missionaries promote ideas of Amerindian otherness?
5. In what way was the French – Amerindian frontier a borderlands region. How did this affect French – Amerindian relations. How did it foster the formation of the discourses described by Spear?

Readings from Primary and Secondary Sources:

Richebourg Gaillard McWilliams, ed. and trans., Fleur de Lys and Calumet; Being the Pénicaut Narrative of French (Tuscaloosa and London: The University of Alabama Press, 1988).

Pénicaut

"This nation is very warlike, and they are great hunters, and when the Missicipy is low they live solely from hunting because then there is plenty of game in their region. That is why they are not industrious and are very little devoted to the cultivation of the soil. It is the women who do the work here rather than the men; they are quite pretty and white-complexioned. Most of the men are heavy and thickset." pg. 35

Pénicaut

"I should not be at all surprised if these girls are lustful and devoid of restraint because their fathers and their mothers and their religion teach them that, when they leave this world, they have to cross over a narrow and difficult plank before they can enter their Grand Village, where they claim they go after death, and that in the Grand Village will be only those who will have made merry indeed with the boys—they will pass easily across this plank." pg. 87

Pénicaut

"These Apalaches are good Catholic Christians. They had been worn out with Spanish rule, under which they had lived for a long time and which they had deserted in 1705." pg. 133

"They love the French very much, and it must be confessed that the only thing savage about them is their language, which is a mixture of Spanish and Alibamon." pg. 135

Pierre François Xavier de Charlevoix, Journal of a Voyage to North-America. 2 vols. (London, 1761) [The Original] Ann Arbor: University Microfilms, Inc. A Subsidiary of Xerox Corporation March of America Facsimile Series, Number 36 Volume 2

Charlevoix (6/14/1721), The Narrows.

"In a word, these Indians are perfectly convinced, that man is born free, and that no power on earth has a right to infringe his liberty, and that nothing can compensate the loss of it: and it has been found a very difficult to undeceive even the Christians among them, and to make them understand how, by a natural consequence of the corruption of our nature, which is the effect of sin, an unbridled liberty of doing mischief differs very little from obliging them to commit it, because of the strength of the byass [bias] which draws us to it; and that the law which restrains us, causes us to approach nearer to our original state of liberty, whilst it appears to take it from us." pg. 30.

Charlevoix (7/31/1721), Lake Michigan.

"In the southern countries they scarce observe any mean with respect to the women, who are no less prone to lasciviousness; from hence comes that corruption of manners, which has infected the northern nations some years since; the Iroquois in particular had the reputation of chastity before they had any commerce with the Illinois, and the other nations in the neighborhood of Louisiana; they have gained nothing by the acquaintance except becoming like them. It must confessed that effeminacy and lubricity were carried to the greatest excess in those parts; men were seen to wear the dress of women without a blush, and to debate themselves so as to perform those occupations which are most peculiar to the sex, from whence followed a corruption of morals past all expression; it was pretended that this custom came from I know not what principle of religion; but this religion had like many others taken its birth in the depravation of the heart, or if the custom I speak of had its beginning in the spirit, it has ended in the flesh; these effeminate persons never marry, and abandon themselves to the most infamous passions, for which cause they are held in the most sovereign contempt." pg. 80.

Charlevoix (7/31/1721), Lake Michigan.

"The colour of the Indian does not, as many believe, constitute a third species of men between the blacks and the whites. They are very tawny and of a dirty and obscure red, which is more sensible in Florida, of which Louisiana makes a part; but this is not natural to them. The frequent frictions they use, is what gives them this copper complexion, and it is really wonderful that they are not still blacker, being continually exposed to the smoke in winter, and to the greatest of heats of the sun in summer, and at all seasons to all the intemperance of the air." pg. 90.

Reuben Gold Thwaites, ed., The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents; Travels and Explorations of the Jesuit Missionaries in New France 1610-179, 73 vols. (NY: Pageant, 1959).

"Letter From Father Gabriel Marest, Missionary of the Society of Jesus, to Father Germon, of the same Society." (11/9/1712, At Cascaskias)

"Nothing is more difficult than the conversion of these Savages; it is a miracle of the Lord's mercy: we must first make men of them, and afterward work (221) to make them Christians. As they are absolute masters of themselves without being subjected to an Law, the independence in which they live enslaves them to the most brutal passions. It is true, there are Chiefs among them, but the Chiefs have no authority; if they should use threats, far from making themselves feared, they would see themselves abandoned by the very men who had chosen them for Chiefs. They gain consideration and respect only while they have, as is said here, wherewith to fill the kettle,--that is to say, wherewith to make feasts for those who are obedient to them." v. 66, pg. 219-221.

"Letter from Father du Poisson, Missionary to the Akensas, to Father ***." (10/3/1727, at the Akensas).

"They had to plunge into the woods, to set up cabins, to choose their ground, and to burn the cane-breaks and trees. This beginning seemed very hard to people not at all accustomed to that kind of labor; the superintendents and their subordinates, for the most part, amused themselves in the places where a few Frenchmen had already settled, and there they consumed their provisions. The work had hardly begun when the concession was ruined; the workman, ill-paid or ill-fed, refused to work, or himself took his pay; the warehouses were pillaged. Do you not recognize in this the Frenchman? It is partly this which has prevented the country from being settled as it should be, after the immense expenditure that has been made for that purpose." v 67; 283.

Letter by reverend father nau, missionary of the society of jesus, written to Reverend father Bonin, of the same society. (Sault St. Louis, october 2, 1735)

"It is imagined in france that the Iroquois, who formerly treated with so much cruelty the french whom they made captives in war, must be of ferocious aspect, and that their very sight and name would strike terror into all who encounter them. This is pure fancy. Generally speaking, you could find nowhere finer looking men. The Savages are of better build than the french, but side by side with the Iroquois other savages seem dwarfed. Nearly all the men of our mission are nearer six feet in height than five. Their (265) countenance is in keeping with Their stature, and their features are regular. The children especially are diminutive types of the picturesque, Transparency of color being alone wanting. Their complexion is of an olive tint, but no so tawny as that of other tribes, not differing much from that of the portuguese. I have met even in the streets of bourdeaux any number of men darker than Our Iroquois. They would for the most part be as clear-complexioned as the french, were it not for the effects of the Smoke in their cabins, which is so dense that I fail to understand how they do not lose Their sight." v. 68, 263-265.

"Letter from Father Vivier, Missionary among the Ilinois, to Father * * *. (Among the Illinois, this 8th of June, 1750.)

"There are three classes of inhabitants: French, Negroes, and Savages; to say nothing of Half-breeds born of the one or the other, — as a rule, against the Law of God." v. 69; 145.

John Eaden, ed. and trans., The Memoirs of Pére Labat, 1693-1705 )Plymouth and London: Frank Cass & Co. LTD., 1970).

"Pére Labat"

"It is difficult to say what colour they are, as they paint themselves every day with a mixture (71) of rocou and caster oil which makes them look like boiled lobsters. Beside the pleasure the colour gives them, the painting serves two useful purposes. In the first place it prevents the sun blistering their skin, and in the second place gnats and mosquitoes dislike the smell of it. Without this paint, indeed, the Indians would be tormented by the bites of these insects. If they are going on a war expedition, or making any visit of importance, their wives paint black moustaches and lines on their faces and bodies which last for nine days or se before they fade. Some of these Indians were daubed in this manner. Nothing can be more ugly to my mind, or more handsome or in better taste to their way of thinking. Such is the diversity of opinion." pg. 70-71.

"Pére Labat"

"The execution of their promises, however, is quite a different matter, and depends entirely on the mood they are in when it is time to put their hands to work. For they are absolutely free and independent, and will obey no leader, and on this point they are touchy to a degree." pg. 100.

Theda Perdue, Cherokee Women; Gender and Cultural Change, 1700-1835 (Lincoln:

University of Nebraska Press, 1998).

"What mattered most to Cherokees was kinship, and a child whose mother was Cherokee was also a Cherokee. Louis-Philippe described the principle of matrilineal decent and then commented that in "consequence, the children of white men and Indian women are Indians like the others. The Americans call them half breeds. They live precisely as the others do, neither read nor write, and ordinarily speak only the tribal tongue." The Cherokees, however, had no concept of a "half-breed" or mixed-blood person: a child of Cherokee and European ancestry was Cherokee or European depending on whether the mother was Cherokee or European." Pg. 82.

"The idea of Indians becoming "civilized" was not a new one. Eighteenth-century writers usually attributed even physical differences between European and Native Americans to culture, a human invention that could be changed, they believed, relatively easily. The Virginian Robert Beverly, for example, maintained that the darker skin of Native peoples came from "greasing and sunning themselves" and that an infant’s skin was "much cleaner" than an adult’s. Europeans explained perceived differences in accomplishment in terms of cultural, not racial, superiority and held out hope that Native peoples could progress to Europe’s elevated position. Thomas Jefferson suggested that with time, literacy, and an increase in population, the American Indians might even produce an individual comparable to Isaac Newton." Pg. 109-110.

Jay Higginbotham, ed. and trans., The Journal of Sauvole: Historical Journal of the Establishment of the French in Louisiana by M. de Sauvole (Mobile: Griffice Printing Co., 1969).

Sauvole

"The word "sauvages" is translated as "savages" rather than "Indians" or "natives" for the reason that the French knew both of the latter words and sometimes used them. Perhaps "natives" would be a better translation in later years when the Indians abandoned some of their natural customs and came to adopt some of the French ways. However, Sauvole's journals cover the years 1699-1701; at this time, I believe that Sauvole was using the word with no other connotation than to indicate a people who were living in "a wild wood in an untamed state of being." The word "savage" used in its purest sense does not necessarily imply brutishness, cruelty, or barbarity." pg. 12

Marcel Giraud, A History of French Louisiana, I, The Reign of Louis XIV, 1698-1715 (1953), trans. Joesph C. Lambert (Baton Rouge, La., 1974).

"Biologically, La Vente judged the effects of a policy of fusion of the races favorably. "We do not see," he said, "that the blood of the savages can do any harm to the blood of the French": in many cases, "the whiteness of the children is absolutely equal to that of the French themselves." Pg. 233.