Helen Nesbitt

Working the Waters                                                                                                   Week 4

Harmon paper

            Traditions and proper interpretation are two of the most important factors when dealing with cross cultural trade. Not set that trade in the newly (European) discovered America and list the players as various American and European fir traders and Native Americans from a vast array of different tribes. Not only did these Native Americans have to find ways to communicate with these strange pale men they had to communicate with each other  as each tribe had a different dialect and set of beliefs. At least within the different Native American communities the lines blurred when it came to traditional practices such as those relating to religion and war.  To overcome the peculiarities of their new partners in commerce local people fit the way they interpreted the white trader’s actions into their own culture norms rather than assimilating to fit the norms of the intruders.  From the very beginning of this highly unusual trade agreement Native people construed the potential gains to be had from interacting with the newcomers in way that fit neatly into their overall pattern of thought.

             Many of the understandings that early Native Americans formatted to understand the fur traders were built around spiritual beliefs, which for the most part ran across tribal lines.  As far as the prominent beliefs of the time were concerned, on an entirely spiritual level there was much to be gained through interactions with the new white man, as Alexandra Harmon discusses in her book, Indians in the Making,

“Native villagers of the early nineteenth century believed that contact with beings from a different realm, while dangerous, could be a source of individual power and thus a means  to establish and estimable persona…many of them saw relations with King George men and Bostons as a way to obtain or demonstrate personal power.” (pg. 11)

Native Americans, then and now, have a deep connection with the natural and spiritual world that when faced with a seemingly outlandish new form of man it is expected that they would rely on that connection to make sense of the affair. By applying what they understood and believed about to the nature of their world to its strange intruders the Natives were able to process the information and jump immediately into what gains could be made through interaction, a very human reaction. This reaction proved true as trade expanded and many of the individual Native Americans benefited greatly from their interactions with the European traders and plugged their newfound wealth into ways that would benefit their social standing within their unique societal constructs.

“Prestige followed from…ritually redistributing rather than accumulating property. The valuables people obtained in barter attested to their powers…When they subsequently sponsored ceremonies where that gave away their acquisitions; native traders also earned coveted reputations for generosity and nobility.”

(pg. 27)