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Captivity Narratives and the Evolution of Anglo-American Identities from the Colonial to the Early National Period

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Captivity Narratives and the Evolution of Anglo-American Identities from the Colonial to the Early National Period 1 TRANSATLANTIC TRIANGULATIONS: CAPTIVITY NARRATIVES AND THE EVOLUTION OF ANGLO-AMERICAN IDENTITIES FROM THE COLONIAL TO THE EARLY NATIONAL PERIOD A dissertation presented By Neval Avci to The Department of English In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy In the field of English Northeastern University Boston, Massachusetts December, 2016 2 TRANSATLANTIC TRIANGULATIONS: CAPTIVITY NARRATIVES AND THE EVOLUTION OF ANGLO-AMERICAN IDENTITIES FROM THE COLONIAL TO THE EARLY NATIONAL PERIOD. A dissertation presented By Neval Avci ABSTRACT OF DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English in the College of Social Sciences and Humanities of Northeastern University December, 2016 3 ABSTRACT This dissertation focuses on the discursive creation and consolidation of Anglo- Colonial and Anglo-American identities from the early modern period through the early nineteenth century. In formulating my argument, I turn to various texts including early modern English accounts of the Islamic East, Barbary captivity narratives written by early modern English and early American subjects, as well as Indian captivity narratives penned by English colonists in North America. In particular, I examine the role of Ottoman/Muslim and English encounters and experiences in relation to Anglo-Atlantic and Anglo-American identity formation. In my examination of these encounters, I complicate the notion of binary opposition as suggested by Edward Said’s theory of Orientalism. Instead, I propose a triangular model in which figures of Islam assume the role of catalyzers and encourage Western subjects to reconsider and reconfigure their identity against their own countrymen. For instance, some early modern Englishmen began reconsidering and reconfiguring their Englishness after gaining a new sense of class-consciousness in their encounters with Ottoman Muslims. In a similar fashion, English colonists in North America embraced a settler-colonial identity in the New World that challenged old English social constructions and promoted skill over noble blood. This new identity was not necessarily forged by pitting the English self against the Native American other but by reconsidering Englishness in the New World setting—and eventually replacing old English values by New English ones—after encounters with Native Americans. In the early national period, American encounters with North African Muslims similarly contributed to the consolidation of an American identity as the new nation gradually separated itself from the mother nation. In Barbary captivity narratives 4 written in this period, American captives often engage in an identity-formation that relies on a national pride vis-à-vis European captives rather than Muslim captors. Drawing on these examples of Anglo-Colonial and Anglo-American identity formation in the age of transatlantic expansion and colonization, I delineate in this project an alternative to the model of identity construction via binary opposition. This triangular model does not entirely override binaries, but it does better encapsulate the Anglo-Atlantic experience in the colonial and early national periods by considering the complexities of cultural relations in the transatlantic contact zone. 5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I have accrued so many debts during my six-year Ph.D. journey at Northeastern to my professors, friends, and family. While I am aware that a simple “thank you” cannot suffice, I would like to express my gratitude to everyone who supported me through this long journey. First and foremost, I thank my chair and advisor Professor Elizabeth Maddock Dillon. Since the first day I set foot in the English Department, she has always been the most supportive mentor to me. Her guidance and wisdom has continually inspired me to first become a better student and now a better scholar. I also would like to thank my committee members Professor Nicole Aljoe and Professor Erika Boeckeler. They always encouraged me to push my limits and taught me to ask the right questions. And, I am grateful to my outside reader Professor Bernadette Andrea for her time, her invaluable feedback and her continuous encouragement. I also would like to thank Professor Marina Leslie, Professor Patricia Sullivan, and Professor Michael Booth for their support and guidance in navigating through the graduate school. The English Department administrative team was always ready to help when I needed their assistance. I specifically would like to thank Melissa Daigle and Nischeena Charles for their vital assistance while I was dissertating long distance. I have had the privilege to share my graduate school experience with extremely kind and smart people. Many heartfelt thanks to my fellow graduate students for their friendship, support, and inspiration: Mina Nikolopoulou, Nicole Keller, Chris Myers, Ben Doyle, 'Ilaheva Tua'one, Frank Capogna, and Megan McCormick. My dear friends, colleagues, and officemates Laura Hartmann-Villalta and Erin Frymire always manage to 6 brighten even the darkest days with their friendship and humor. My deepest thanks to these two wonderful people for always being there for me. I also would like to thank the University of Georgia Libraries for providing me with the optimum research environment and my friends in Athens, GA for rooting for me during the time I was dissertating 1000 miles away from Northeastern. I am particularly grateful to Esra and Aaron Santesso for coaching me for the “big day.” Last but not the least, I would like to thank my family for their love, support, and prayers. Thank you to my mom and dad, Nihal and Ilker Onay, for always supporting my academic endeavors even when it meant to send their little daughter to the other side of the world. And thank you to Sumeyye Kalyoncu for her friendship and her support in every stage of my life from high school to this day. This dissertation is dedicated to three dearest people in my life, who sacrificed the most for it to come into being: to my compassionate and loving husband Fikri, whose unwavering support makes everything possible, to my son Kenan, who always brightens my long writing days with his joyful laughter and whose emerging transatlantic identity I enjoy observing the most, and to our family’s soon-to-be the newest member, who had to share with his mama every stressful moment of dissertation writing. I know I cannot thank you all enough, but thanks for being by my side all the time! 7 TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract 2 Acknowledgements 5 Table of Contents 7 Introduction 8 Chapter 1: Captive Travelers, Travelling Captives: Early Modern English Encounters with the Muslim Other and the Reconfiguration of English Identity 28 Chapter 2: From Colony to Settlement: Indian Captivity Narratives and Settler-Colonist Investment in the Reproductive Female Body in Colonial America 91 Chapter 3: The Importance of Feeling Captive: Barbary Captivity and Early American Transformation from Colony to Nation 143 Conclusion 196 Bibliography 201 8 Introduction In this project, I trace the discursive creation and consolidation of Anglo-colonial identity across a wide time period by turning to Barbary and Indian captivity as well as early modern travel narratives. Specifically, I examine the role of Ottoman/Muslim and English encounters and experiences in relation to Anglo-Atlantic and Anglo-American identity formation. Chronologically, my project starts with the late sixteenth century— when England began developing an interest in westward colonial expansion—and ends in the early nineteenth century when a more or less distinctive American identity—one that is not necessarily defined in relation to a strict social hierarchy but to skill and labor— was forged by the inhabitants of England’s former colonies. I am particularly interested in teasing out the ways in which this Anglo-American identity came into being. While this task has been undertaken many scholars, my approach differs from that of established scholarship on Anglo-Colonial (and later Anglo-American) identity-formation as I am interested in the influence of Ottoman and North African Muslims on the emergence of this identity.1 The trajectory I am tracing in this project is significant because scholars often do not connect the Ottoman Empire to the Anglo-Atlantic Empire but the Ottoman Empire does have bearing on the development of the Anglo-Atlantic world and the U.S.2 The broad temporal reach of this project enables this connection, although it means 1 Two scholars whose work on Anglo-colonial modes of identity influenced mine are Nancy Armstrong and Leonard Tennenhouse. In their foundational study, Imaginary Puritan (1994), they explore the ways in which an Anglo-American identity came into being in a fashion that is similar to the triangular model I propose in my project. They focus on Indian captivity narratives’ transformative role on the other side of the Atlantic over the social life of the English by encouraging a new form of Englishness that does not gain its strength from aristocracy. In this project, I extend their model to include the early 2 I should note that there is an increasing interest among scholars in exploring how encounters with North African Muslims in the early national period contributed to 9 that very diverse texts are considered as are diverse periods and geographies, but the aim is to draw some new connections that have not been drawn before. In order to give a clear historical narrative of the emergence and consolidation of this Anglo-Atlantic and Anglo-American identity, I dedicate each chapter to a particular geography and time period. The first chapter starts in the English center and traces early modern English travelers and Barbary captives to the Ottoman Empire/North Africa and back to England. One of the central arguments I make in this chapter is that encounters of Englishmen with Ottoman and North African Muslims shifted ideas of Englishness, and this new idea of Englishness was effective and/or instrumental in developing Anglo- Colonial modes of identity.
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