John Tanner, Colonial Credulity, and Comparative Religions: Theorizing Religion on the Borderlands of U.S. Empire

IF 0.3 3区 哲学 Q2 HISTORY
T. Wenger
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Abstract

ABSTRACT This essay explores the human stakes of theorizing religion in the early nineteenth century, on the borderlands of an expanding U.S. empire. It does so through the lens of a single text, A Narrative of the Captivity and Adventures of John Tanner (U.S. Interpreter at the Saut de Ste. Marie) during Thirty Years Residence among the Indians. Published in 1830, the Narrative offers an entrée into the circulation of knowledge and debates about religion among Native Americans and white settlers in a time and place from which we have little record of such debates. Tanner joined in the Midewiwin of the Ojibwe and cultivated the Anishinaabe practice of medicine hunting; held back his own skepticism, perhaps retrospectively exaggerated, at the messages of those he called “Indian prophets”; and discussed the differences, solidified in the telling, between white and Indigenous religions. His editor, Edwin James, meanwhile, drew on comparative scholarship about mythology and religion around the world to defend his own preferred theories about the religious and racial character of Indigenous peoples. Religion has long been theorized far beyond the academy and the centers of empire. Relatively unfamiliar accounts, like Tanner's, reveal how everyday people have engaged with these theories and the consequences of these theories on the ground. Tanner's Narrative, in short, usefully illuminates the webs of knowledge about religion in early America and its human stakes for people caught in the crosshairs of a transforming imperial world.
约翰·坦纳:《殖民轻信与比较宗教:美帝国边缘地区的宗教理论化》
摘要本文探讨了19世纪初,在不断扩张的美国帝国的边界地带,宗教理论化的人类利害关系。它是通过一本书的镜头来做到这一点的,这本书是关于约翰·坦纳(美国圣玛丽教堂口译员)在印第安人三十年居住期间的被俘和冒险的叙述。出版于1830年的《叙事》提供了一个切入点,让我们了解美洲原住民和白人定居者之间关于宗教的知识和辩论的传播,而我们对这种辩论几乎没有记录。Tanner加入了Ojibwe的Midewiwin,并培养了Anishinaabe的猎药实践;对那些他称之为“印度先知”的人的信息,他克制住了自己的怀疑,也许是回顾性地夸大了这一点;并讨论了白人和土著宗教之间的差异,这些差异在讲述中得到了巩固。与此同时,他的编辑埃德温·詹姆斯(Edwin James)利用世界各地关于神话和宗教的比较学术,为他自己喜欢的关于土著人民宗教和种族特征的理论辩护。长期以来,宗教理论远远超出了学术界和帝国中心。相对陌生的叙述,比如坦纳的叙述,揭示了日常人们是如何参与这些理论的,以及这些理论在实地的后果。简言之,坦纳的《叙事》有效地阐明了早期美国关于宗教的知识网,以及人们在转型的帝国世界中所面临的人类利害关系。
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
CiteScore
0.40
自引率
25.00%
发文量
7
期刊介绍: Religion and American Culture is devoted to promoting the ongoing scholarly discussion of the nature, terms, and dynamics of religion in America. Embracing a diversity of methodological approaches and theoretical perspectives, this semiannual publication explores the interplay between religion and other spheres of American culture. Although concentrated on specific topics, articles illuminate larger patterns, implications, or contexts of American life. Edited by Philip Goff, Stephen Stein, and Peter Thuesen.
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