Borderland Narratives - (Contested Boundaries) by Andrew K Frank & A Glenn Crothers

About the Book

Frank and Crothers have gathered ten essays to explore the newer, more capacious applications of borderlands study, with a particular emphasis on the Ohio Valley--which, in its own uneasy placement between the traditional north/south sectional divide, becomes a case study in what can be gained by placing the borderlands concept at the center of inquiry. By crossing geographic, chronological, and methodological boundaries, the volume shows various ways the borderlands concept can enhance scholars' understanding of political, cultural, religious, and racial interactions throughout North America.

Book Synopsis

Broadening the idea of "borderlands" beyond its traditional geographic meaning, this volume features new ways of characterizing the political, cultural, religious, and racial fluidity of early America. It extends the concept to regions not typically seen as borderlands and demonstrates how the term has been used in recent years to describe unstable spaces where people, cultures, and viewpoints collide.

The essays include an exploration of the diplomacy and motives that led colonial and Native leaders in the Ohio Valley--including those from the Shawnee and Cherokee--to cooperate and form coalitions; a contextualized look at the relationship between African Americans and Seminole Indians on the Florida borderlands; and an assessment of the role that animal husbandry played in the economies of southeastern Indians. An essay on the experiences of those who disappeared in the early colonial southwest highlights the magnitude of destruction on these emergent borderlands and features a fresh perspective on Cabeza de Vaca. Yet another essay examines the experiences of French missionary priests in the trans-Appalachian West, adding a new layer of understanding to places ordinarily associated with the evangelical Protestant revivals of the Second Great Awakening.

Collectively these essays focus on marginalized peoples and reveal how their experiences and decisions lie at the center of the history of borderlands. They also look at the process of cultural mixing and the crossing of religious and racial boundaries. A timely assessment of the dynamic field of borderland studies, Borderland Narratives argues that the interpretive model of borders is essential to understanding the history of colonial North America.

Contributors: Andrew Frank A. Glenn Crothers Rob Harper Tyler Boulware Carla Gerona Rebekah M. K. Mergenthal Michael Pasquier Philip Mulder Julie Winch

Review Quotes

"This important collection of essays reveals new insights and asks potentially fruitful questions about borderland spaces between 1500 and 1850. . . Essential."--Choice "An important collection. . . . Borderland Narratives will continue to push historians to reevaluate and question our assumptions about the crossroads of life in #vastearlyamerica."--H-Net Reviews "An impressive volume that aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the past, present, and future of borderlands scholarship."--Journal of Southern History "Frank and Crothers argue in favor of a more expansive definition of 'borderlands.' . . . The analytics of boundaries, whether physical, geographical, ethnic, legal, temporal, or gender-based, can definitely benefit from the techniques employed by these contributors."--H-AmIndian