Reading with Powhatan Ancestral Remains in Robert Beverley's The History and Present State of Virginia

IF 0.3 3区 文学 0 LITERATURE, AMERICAN
Kimberly Takahata
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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Abstract:

This essay presents Robert Beverley's 1705 The History and Present State of Virginia as a case study of the role Indigenous ancestral remains serve for both colonial attempts at control and as teachers for current anticolonial scholarly approaches. Analyzing his depiction of Powhatan ancestral remains, this piece first argues that Beverley presents Powhatan ancestors as solely bones, that is, as transferable and general "objects" that serve as a synecdoche for removed Indigenous populations at large. However, despite Beverley's brief and abstracting descriptions, I argue that these moments continue to register the prolonged attention and ongoing care that Powhatan relations undertake for their ancestors, underscoring the presence of what I call testimonies of remaining care. These testimonies, I argue, break apart settler erasures by attesting to the kinship that always continues to surround Powhatan ancestors. Reframing texts like Beverley's as narratives that depend on Indigenous life rather than death, this article demonstrates how ancestral relations testify to the structural grounding of Indigenous communities and care work to narratives that seek to obscure them.

从罗伯特-贝弗利的《弗吉尼亚州的历史与现状》中读懂波瓦坦祖先的遗迹
摘要:本文以罗伯特-贝弗利(Robert Beverley)1705 年出版的《弗吉尼亚州的历史与现状》(The History and Present State of Virginia)为案例,研究了土著祖先遗骸在殖民时期的控制企图和当前反殖民学术方法中的作用。在分析他对波瓦坦祖先遗骸的描述时,本文首先论证了贝弗利仅将波瓦坦祖先描述为尸骨,即作为可转移的一般 "物品",作为被移走的广大土著居民的同义词。然而,尽管贝弗利的描述简短而抽象,但我认为这些时刻仍然记录了波瓦坦人对祖先的长期关注和持续关怀,强调了我所说的剩余关怀见证的存在。我认为,这些见证通过证明波瓦坦祖先身边始终存在的亲情,打破了定居者的抹杀。本文将像贝弗利这样的文本重构为依赖于土著生命而非死亡的叙事,展示了祖先关系如何证明土著社区的结构性基础,以及如何对试图掩盖它们的叙事进行关怀。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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来源期刊
EARLY AMERICAN LITERATURE
EARLY AMERICAN LITERATURE LITERATURE, AMERICAN-
CiteScore
0.30
自引率
33.30%
发文量
62
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