To live upon hope, Mohicans and missionaries in the eighteenth-century Northeast, Rachel Wheeler
Type
Label
To live upon hope, Mohicans and missionaries in the eighteenth-century Northeast, Rachel Wheeler
Language
eng
Index
no index present
Literary Form
non fiction
Main title
To live upon hope
Medium
electronic resource
Nature of contents
dictionaries
Responsibility statement
Rachel Wheeler
Sub title
Mohicans and missionaries in the eighteenth-century Northeast
Summary
Two Northeast Indian communities with similar histories of colonization accepted Congregational and Moravian missionaries, respectively, within five years of one another: the Mohicans of Stockbridge, Massachusetts (1735), and Shekomeko, in Dutchess County, New York (1740). In To Live upon Hope, Rachel Wheeler explores the question of what "missionary Christianity" became in the hands of these two native communities. The Mohicans of Stockbridge and Shekomeko drew different conclusions from their experiences with colonial powers. Both tried to preserve what they deemed core elements of Mohican culture. The Indians of Stockbridge believed education in English cultural ways was essential to their survival and cast their acceptance of the mission project as a means of preserving their historic roles as cultural intermediaries. The Mohicans of Shekomeko, by contrast, sought new sources of spiritual power that might be accessed in order to combat the ills that came with colonization, such as alcohol and disease. Through extensive research, especially in the Moravian records of day-to-day life, Wheeler offers an understanding of the lived experience of Mohican communities under colonialism. She complicates the understanding of eighteenth-century American Christianity by demonstrating that mission programs were not always driven by the destruction of indigenous culture and the advancement of imperial projects. In To Live upon Hope, Wheeler challenges the prevailing view of accommodation or resistance as the two poles of Indian responses to European colonization; colonialism placed severe strains on native peoples, yet Indians also exercised a level of agency and creativity that aided in their survival
Target audience
adult
Classification
Contributor
Creator
Subject
- Moravian Indians + Missions -- New York (State) -- Shekomeko Site -- History -- 18th century
- Mahican Indians + Missions + History -- 18th century
- Shekomeko Site (N.Y.) -- History -- 18th century
- Electronic books
- Congregational churches + Missions -- Massachusetts -- Stockbridge -- History -- 18th century
- Moravian Church -- Missions -- New York (State) -- Shekomeko Site -- History -- 18th century
- Shekomeko Site (N.Y.) -- Ethnic relations
- Stockbridge (Mass.) -- History -- 18th century
- Stockbridge (Mass.) -- Ethnic relations
- Stockbridge Indians + Missions -- Massachusetts -- Stockbridge -- History -- 18th century
Content
Incoming Resources
- Has instance1
Outgoing Resources
- Classification1
- Contributor1
- Creator1
- Subject10
- Moravian Indians + Missions -- New York (State) -- Shekomeko Site -- History -- 18th century
- Mahican Indians + Missions + History -- 18th century
- Shekomeko Site (N.Y.) -- History -- 18th century
- Electronic books
- Congregational churches + Missions -- Massachusetts -- Stockbridge -- History -- 18th century
- Moravian Church -- Missions -- New York (State) -- Shekomeko Site -- History -- 18th century
- Shekomeko Site (N.Y.) -- Ethnic relations
- Stockbridge (Mass.) -- History -- 18th century
- Stockbridge (Mass.) -- Ethnic relations
- Stockbridge Indians + Missions -- Massachusetts -- Stockbridge -- History -- 18th century
- Content1