Representing native American women in early colonial American writings: Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, Juan Ortiz and John Smith

Most observers of Native Americans during the contact period between Europe and the Americas represented Native American women as monstrous beings posing potential threats to the Europeans’ physical integrity. However, the most well known portrait of Native American women is John Smith’s description...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Gómez Galisteo, Carmen
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2019
País:España
Institución:Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia
Repositorio:e-spacio. Repositorio Institucional de la UNED
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:e-spacio.uned.es:20.500.14468/29994
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14468/29994
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:5505.10 Filología
Native American women
Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca
The Account
Naufragios
Juan Ortiz
Captain John Smith
Pocahontas
Descripción
Sumario:Most observers of Native Americans during the contact period between Europe and the Americas represented Native American women as monstrous beings posing potential threats to the Europeans’ physical integrity. However, the most well known portrait of Native American women is John Smith’s description of Pocahontas, the Native American princess who, the legend goes, saved Smith from being executed. Transformed into a children’s tale, further popularized by the Disney movie, as well as being the object of innumerable historical studies questioning or asserting the veracity of Smith’s claims, the fact remains that the Smith-Pocahontas story is at the very core of North American culture. Nevertheless, far from being original, John Smith’s story had a precedent in the story of Spaniard Juan Ortiz, a member of the ill-fated Narváez expedition to Florida in 1527. Ortiz, who got lost in America and spent the rest of his life there, was also rescued by a Native American princess from being sacrificed in the course of a Native American ritual, as recounted by the Gentleman of Elvas...