THE SAVAGE SELF THE SAVAGE SELF: "INDIANS" AND THE EMERGENCE OF THE MODERN BRITISH SUBJECT By ROBBIE RICHARDSON, B.A. (HONOURS), M.A. A Thesis Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctorate of Philosophy McMaster University © Copyright by Robbie Richardson, December 2010 11 DOCTORATE OF PHILOSOPHY McMaster University (English) Hamilton, Ontario TITLE: The Savage Self: "Indians" and the Emergence of the Modem British Subject AUTHOR: Robbie Richardson, B.A.H. (University of Winnipeg), M.A. (McMaster University) SUPERVISOR: Professor Peter Walmsley NUMBER OF PAGES: vi, 244 iii Abstract This dissertation explores literary representations of North American Indigenous people in eighteenth-century British texts. Throughout the century, "Indians" appeared frequently in British print culture, in newspapers, periodicals, and travel narratives, but the primary focus in this work is on imaginative writing such as novels, plays, poetry, and essays. Many of these texts are surprisingly overlooked, and scholarship regularly diminishes the significance of Indians in literature during the period. I argue that these texts explore modernity through Indigenous subjectivity, and ultimately contribute to the shaping of modem British identity. While the figure of the Indian is often thought of as a primitive "noble savage," Indians were also used to negotiate modem discourses which Britons were beginning to encounter throughout the eighteenth century. The important developments in British culture during the time, such as the forming of a unified British identity, the rise of capitalism and consumerism, and empire, impacted the lives and identities of Britons, and the Indian was used as a kind of "other self' to negotiate their effects. This dynamic began with texts surrounding the 1710 visit by four Iroquois "Indian kings" to London a few years following the Acts of Union, and increased mid-century as conflict in the colonies escalated. First Nations people began to play an important strategic role and were more frequently encountered by British soldiers and travellers, which led to a rise in textual representation in the metropolis. Both as critics of European culture and discursive sites upon which to project emerging cultural forces, Indians functioned as imagined modem subjects; by the end of the century, the figure of the Indian became appropriated by the Romantics and other writers, and the hybrid Briton who internalized Indigenous fortitude and cultural tenacity became the corrective to the decadence and corruption of European culture. lV Acknowledgements I would like to thank the faculty, staff, and students in the Department of English and Cultural Studies at McMaster University, who provided me with an ideal and collegial setting to write this work, and nurtured the diverse and interdisciplinary critical tools with which I could explore my field. The varied interests and perspectives of my colleagues and mentors has been inspirational and influential, and helped shape not only my approach to my own work, but to research and knowledge in a broader sense. I am grateful to my supervisor, Peter Walmsley, for getting me through the process of writing this dissertation with encouraging words and feedback which was always timely and insightful. The level of professional and personal support was above and beyond any expectations. My committee members Eugenia Zuroski-Jenkins and Daniel Coleman also provided crucial words and ideas, and brought in alternative perspectives to the work which proved vital and productive. I am very thankful to the North Shore Micmac District Council and Hazel Francis for their support, and for taking a chance in helping out a PhD student. During the lonely process of writing, it was validating to know I had their backing and that of my community, Pabineau First Nation. The funding of the National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council were also vital to allow me to write this dissertation. My parents, my brother Scott and sister Deborah, and all my relations have greatly aided in providing encouragement and interest in my work, eagerly purchasing my published materials and listening patiently to my ongoing struggles. While to some it seemed my education would never end, they nonetheless continued to be proud of my work and modest achievements. Laurie Bertram was a consistent supportive force who provided much needed support, feedback, and dissertation-writing solidarity over the years, while Mark King, Jo Snyder, and David Guillas helped to bring clarity to my life. So many others have aided and influenced me in my work and life, and I am grateful to all those role models and kindred spirits. Wela'lin. v The Savage Self: "Indians" and the Emergence of the Modern British Subject Introduction • 1 Chapter 1: Indians and the Emergence of Britain 9 Chapter 2: Indians and the "ancienregime" of Identity . 57 Chapter 3: Consuming Indians: Tsonnonthouan, Colonialism, and the Commodification of Culture . 119 Chapter 4: Sentimental Appropriations: The Lure of Hybridity 170 Conclusion • 233 Bibliography 238 Vl List of Illustrations: Figure 1: Peter Williamson, 1759 . 111 Figure 2: Robinson Crusoe, 1719 112 Figure 3: Mohawk Warrior, 1759 . 113 Figure 4: Delaware Indian, 1766 114 Figure 5: Delaware Indian, 1772 115 Figure 6: Delaware Indian, 1790 116 Figure 7: Peter Williamson, 1792 117 Figure 8: Richard Falconer, 1720 118 PhD Thesis- R. Richardson McMaster- English 1 Introduction This dissertation will explore representations of First Nations people in eighteenth-century British literature and their relation to "modernizing" developments occurring in Britain and its colonies which affected British subjectivity. These developments include the coalescing of an individual and national sense of British identity, the rise of capitalism and consumerism, and the growth of an overseas empire. The term "Indians" will be employed throughout in describing these representations. The reason for this usage is that the figure of the Indian is a specific, though as we shall see widely varied, discursive construction. 1 This construction is at times informed by actual encounters with Indigenous people, mediated through the accounts of explorers, traders, missionaries, and others, and in some cases is reflective of actual Native cultural values and experiences, but the purpose here is not to either prove or disprove British understandings; rather, it is to examine the function of this discourse in eighteenth-century British culture and society. There are numerous sites for investigation, from British government policy to newspapers to historical and ethnographic accounts, but the primary focus will be on imaginative literature. 2 It is in these texts that the various currents of thought forming the Indian are distilled and begin to engage with new British social and cultural discourses As Gerald Vizenor argues "[t]he word Indian[ . .. ] is a colonial enactment," making the Indian "an occidental invention that became a bankable simulation" ( ll ). For a useful overview of non-literary representations, see Bickham, Troy. Savages Within the Empire: Representations ofAmerican Indians in Eighteenth-Century Britain. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2005, and Pratt, Stephanie. American Indians in British Art, 1700-1840. Norman: U Oklahoma P, 2005. PhD Thesis- R. Richardson McMaster- English 2 looking for purchase. Other factors form the complex discourse surrounding Indians in Britain, from historical circumstance to the literary marketplace, but the emphasis throughout these chapters is on the relation between Indians and the latest developments in British culture of the time. To be sure, there exists a large body of pernicious, even pathological texts which paint Indians in the most negative and backwards ways imaginable, but the project of unpacking these works is not the goal of this dissertation. Some of these texts, including captivity narratives, will be addressed, but the purpose will be to examine the remarkable gap between the admiration and rejection of Indian subjectivity. The methodology of this work is informed by Foucault's genealogical method; he describes genealogy as operating "on a field of entangled and confused parchments, on documents that have been scratched over and recopied many times" (76). It is not a search for "origins," but rather rejects this endeavour. The goal is to "identify the accidents, the minute deviations-- or conversely, the complete reversals-- the errors, the false appraisals, and the faulty calculations that give birth to those things that continue to exist and have value for us; it is to discover that truth or being does not lie at the root of what we know and what we are, but the exteriority of accidents" (81). The purpose of history in this view "is not to discover the roots of our identity, but to commit itself to its dissipation" (95). The construction of Indians and the discourse which produced this complex image both need to be understood and unpacked. From an PhD Thesis- R. Richardson McMaster- English 3 Indigenous perspective, it is important to see the relation between the discursive construction of Indians as a productive field of negotiation and the simultaneous rejection of Native people from modernity. Postcolonial theory has been working for some time on the task of dissipating the hegemonic European subject who dominated the nineteenth and twentieth century, uncovering the ways in which