Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

The capture and social transformation of outsiders was a widespread but varied practice in indigenous North America. Depending upon the society and time period in question, captivity was followed by incorporative practices such as adoption and resocialization as well as a variety of subordinating practices ranging from confinement and involuntary labor to torture and death. Although underrepresented in popular imagery and in scholarly accounts, Native American captives of Europeans and Euro-Americans were also subjected to a variety of incorporative and subordinating practices.This essay explores the assumptions embedded in conceptualizing indigenous practices under such rubrics as “captivity,” “adoption,” and “slavery,” arguing that the use of these translation devices (Cheyfitz, 1997) has led to blind spots, misconceptions, and poorly framed controversies. “Incorporation” and “subordination” are offered as more satisfactory analytical terms for the range of transformative processes that follow in the wake of “captivity,” itself understood as the assertion of power over a person or group resulting in dislocation, physical confinement, and social transformation. These more abstract terms and definitions have the advantage of grouping together phenomena that might otherwise be viewed separately (e.g., kidnapping, incarceration, forced relocation and schooling, and various forms of ... log in or subscribe to read full text