Mary Jemison
To properly study foreign cultures, an ethnographer must immerse himself into the foreigner’s society, often stripping himself of all common necessities. This practice is most purely illustrated by the accounts of Jean de Lery and Mary Jemison. Jean de Lery, a French Calvinist, in his History of a Voyage to the Land of Brazil, examines the Tupinamba, an Indian tribe, by allowing himself to separate from his Protestant rationality. To ensure her own survival, Mary Jemison, an Irish American taken captive by Shawnee Indians and adopted by a Seneca family, fully assimilates herself into tribal life, living as a Seneca woman for seventy years. Though Lery’s account is one of an ethnographer and Jemison’s of a captive, both narrations have a perspective of their particular Indians that differs from the normal white stereotypes of their times. Specifically, Jemison and Lery accept Indian brutality as a moral right, allowing them to recognize the inherent peaceable nature of Indians. Their narrations, however, are more than ethnographic: Lery and Jemison deliberately examine acceptable Indian violence in relation to civilization, either as an affect of white society or in comparison to white society. In fact, beyond their praise of
Like Lery, Mary Jemison recognizes that the Indians use brutality only against their enemies. Though her family was murdered by Indians, Jemison is able to detach herself from this tragedy and praise the Indians for their peaceable nature: the Indians, Lery’s and Jemison’s narrations are in actuality critical examinations of white society. Though Lery finds cannibalism to be the most treacherous crime a man can commit, he concludes that the Tupinamba’s custom is a testament of their investment in vengeance. To Lery, the Tupinamba’s use of cannibalism is justified by the seemingly automatic retaliatory mind-setting of the warring Indian tribes. Thus, the Tupinamba are not thirsty for blood but gain so much from seeking vengeance. Furthermore, Lery finds that the Tupinamba practice cannibalism only “toward their enemies” (Lery, p. 128). The ability to distinguish friend from foe illustrates to Lery the inherent morality of the Tupinamba. Although he still maintains that cannibalism is a horrifying practice, he is able to detach himself from his Christian morality and accept their custom. To Lery, the French’s use of cannibalism, though seldom, is more horrific than any Indian custom. To further prove the vulgar nature of the French, Lery examines French cannibalism beyond the literal definition of the word. To this end, he concludes that the French elite are destroying the lower class’ way
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Approximate Word count = 956
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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