Native American Essay

AMST/HIST 110
New Worlds for All
Research and Short-Writing Exercise
Due:   September 16 or 17, 2010

This web-based research activity and short-writing exercise explores how Native North America became a “New World” for Europeans and indigenous peoples alike.

First, we will explore “Indians” and the “New World” as products of cultural construction and representation.   These are not, after all, indigenous concepts.   Instead, as we will see in the context of John White’s and Theodore De Bry’s artwork, Europeans manufactured them.

Next we will investigate the idea of “new worlds” from a completely different perspective—that of everyday life.   Rather than being the outgrowth of cultural construction, these changes grew out of encounter and exchange.   We will look at the communities of Jamestown and Werowocomoco to see how Natives and newcomers transformed one another.

Save this file to your desktop.   As you explore the following websites, you can enter your responses to the questions directly into it. Make certain that they reflect serious engagement with the material and contain concrete and specific examples.   All of your answers must be in paragraph form, with complete sentences, correct grammar, and careful spelling.   A grading rubric can be found at the end of this document. When you are finished, print out the entire file, including the grading rubric, and bring it to your section.

Websites:

I. “Early Images of Virginia Indians”
http://www.vahistorical.org/cole/overview.htm
A. Click on and consult all of the links under “Contents”

II. “Virtual Jamestown”
http://www.virtualjamestown.org/images/white_debry_html/introduction.html
A. Click on and consult “Index of White Watercolors and De Bry Engravings”

III. “Picturing The New World:   The Hand-Colored De Bry Engravings of 1590”
http://www.lib.unc.edu/dc/debry/index.html
A. Click on and consult “About This Collection” and “View the Collection”

IV. “America in 1607”...