Wednesday November 18, 2009 5:30 — 7:00 p.m.
Lying Together: The Imperial Implications of Cross-Cultural Untruths
Joshua Piker, University of Oklahoma
Indians and Europeans regularly lied to each other. Our familiarity with that fact has, however, obscured a subset of lies that is worth examining in more detail: those told on both sides of the frontier. This paper focuses on the cross-cultural lies told about Acorn Whistler, a Creek executed in 1752. The process by which Creeks and imperial officials came to tell the same lies offers a unique window onto the quotidian meaning of both Indian and imperial power. The paper argues that lies told in Coweta and Charleston can have an impact in London and may affect how we understand Lexington and Concord.
All papers are pre-circulated electronically to those who plan to attend the seminar in person. For a copy of the paper, e-mail Heather Radke at scholl@newberry.org,or call (312) 255-3524.
The Newberry Library Seminar in Early American History and Culture is co-sponsored by the History Departments of DePaul University, Loyola University Chicago, Northern Illinois University, Northwestern University, the University of Illinois at Chicago, and the Karla Scherer Center for the Study of American Culture at the University of Chicago
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