Peer Reviewed Publications by Kallie Kosc
American Indian Quarterly, 2020
stable url: https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5250/amerindiquar.44.4.0434
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Indian education has long been acknowledged in American historiography and American Indian Studies as the primary conduit for the cultural genocide of indigenous peoples. The rise of federal Indian boarding schools looms large over the long narrative of Indian education in America, often shading the way scholars interpret earlier Indian engagement with Anglo-style education. This is particularly evident in scholarship that traces the roots of American education and civilization policies to Henry Knox in the 1790s. The emphasis scholars have placed on white men and their initiatives toward “civilizing” Indian people have inadvertently erased indigenous agency and power within the early education system. Informed by indigenous feminism, this article utilizes ethnohistorical approaches to piece together how Mohican women advocated for the prioritization of girls’ education in the 1790s. Their emphasis on female education resulted in greater prosperity for the nation, but their work to establish this model was quickly hijacked by white missionaries and Indian agents who took credit for the idea and Stockbridge success. The female-first strategy that was originally deployed to aid in the securing of Stockbridge land and sovereignty, was later adopted by white architects of Indian education as a tool of tribal destruction. Drawing upon Mohican women’s never-before-analyzed letters, Mohican craftworks, and a careful reevaluation of War Department and missionary records, this piece contributes to the growing body of literature on indigenous women and power in early America while complicating the narrative of the decline of indigenous women’s authority in the early years of the American Republic.
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Conference Presentations by Kallie Kosc
There exists no shortage of literature on the relationship between indigenous peoples of North Am... more There exists no shortage of literature on the relationship between indigenous peoples of North America and the Society of Friends. Interpretations of the subject are as varied as they are voluminous. Given the different experiences Native nations had with Quakers between the 1680s and the rise of Indian boarding schools, there is much room for debate. Conversations about Native women and Quaker women, conversely, seem to lack attention and nuance. Feminist theorists along with historians of Quaker women appear eager to exalt eighteenth and nineteenth-century Quaker women's activism in defense of Native land rights and their support of indigenous gendered life ways. 1 In conversation, many historians are quick to dismiss these interpretations as nothing more than feminist fantasy. Indeed, these interpretations often lack a critical perspective of the role Quaker women played in the colonial project, but the relationships that emerged between indigenous women and Quaker women in early American are worth a more thorough consideration. An investigation of the relationship between Stockbridge Mohican women and Quaker women from Philadelphia and New York demonstrates that women from these communities played a much more significant role in early American-Indian affairs than previously assumed and developed a mutually-beneficial, if ultimately flawed, "sisterhood" that complicates our understanding of Indian-Quaker relations and offers new perspectives on the early women's movement.
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In the 1790s, Mary Doxtator along with other Stockbridge Indian girls were sent away from their h... more In the 1790s, Mary Doxtator along with other Stockbridge Indian girls were sent away from their home in New Stockbridge, New York to Philadelphia where they were boarded in Anglo homes and taught to read, write, and perform Anglo domestic arts. Upon her return to New York, Doxtator and other women set about utilizing the tools available to them to assist in community survivance. Industry via the spinning wheel was their chosen path toward self-determination and community uplift. Doxtator herself played an active role advocating for land retention, ultimately becoming the tribe’s attorney and land agent in 1824. This paper explores the ways in which Native female power was expressed in communities where women had long been turned away from the fields. As educators, reformers, advocates, and manufacturers of textiles, these women not only aided their kin relations in survival, but also participated in broader trends significant to all women, Native and non-Native alike. It is the goal of this paper to contextualize the experiences of Stockbridge women within the overlapping Native and Anglo worlds in which they lived.
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Papers by Kallie Kosc
American Indian Quarterly, 2020
stable url: https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5250/amerindiquar.44.4.0434 Academia download is abst... more stable url: https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5250/amerindiquar.44.4.0434 Academia download is abstract only. Indian education has long been acknowledged in American historiography and American Indian Studies as the primary conduit for the cultural genocide of indigenous peoples. The rise of federal Indian boarding schools looms large over the long narrative of Indian education in America, often shading the way scholars interpret earlier Indian engagement with Anglo-style education. This is particularly evident in scholarship that traces the roots of American education and civilization policies to Henry Knox in the 1790s. The emphasis scholars have placed on white men and their initiatives toward “civilizing” Indian people have inadvertently erased indigenous agency and power within the early education system. Informed by indigenous feminism, this article utilizes ethnohistorical approaches to piece together how Mohican women advocated for the prioritization of girls’ education in the 1790s. Their emphasis on female education resulted in greater prosperity for the nation, but their work to establish this model was quickly hijacked by white missionaries and Indian agents who took credit for the idea and Stockbridge success. The female-first strategy that was originally deployed to aid in the securing of Stockbridge land and sovereignty, was later adopted by white architects of Indian education as a tool of tribal destruction. Drawing upon Mohican women’s never-before-analyzed letters, Mohican craftworks, and a careful reevaluation of War Department and missionary records, this piece contributes to the growing body of literature on indigenous women and power in early America while complicating the narrative of the decline of indigenous women’s authority in the early years of the American Republic.
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Canadian Journal of History
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Peer Reviewed Publications by Kallie Kosc
Academia download is abstract only.
Indian education has long been acknowledged in American historiography and American Indian Studies as the primary conduit for the cultural genocide of indigenous peoples. The rise of federal Indian boarding schools looms large over the long narrative of Indian education in America, often shading the way scholars interpret earlier Indian engagement with Anglo-style education. This is particularly evident in scholarship that traces the roots of American education and civilization policies to Henry Knox in the 1790s. The emphasis scholars have placed on white men and their initiatives toward “civilizing” Indian people have inadvertently erased indigenous agency and power within the early education system. Informed by indigenous feminism, this article utilizes ethnohistorical approaches to piece together how Mohican women advocated for the prioritization of girls’ education in the 1790s. Their emphasis on female education resulted in greater prosperity for the nation, but their work to establish this model was quickly hijacked by white missionaries and Indian agents who took credit for the idea and Stockbridge success. The female-first strategy that was originally deployed to aid in the securing of Stockbridge land and sovereignty, was later adopted by white architects of Indian education as a tool of tribal destruction. Drawing upon Mohican women’s never-before-analyzed letters, Mohican craftworks, and a careful reevaluation of War Department and missionary records, this piece contributes to the growing body of literature on indigenous women and power in early America while complicating the narrative of the decline of indigenous women’s authority in the early years of the American Republic.
Conference Presentations by Kallie Kosc
Papers by Kallie Kosc
Academia download is abstract only.
Indian education has long been acknowledged in American historiography and American Indian Studies as the primary conduit for the cultural genocide of indigenous peoples. The rise of federal Indian boarding schools looms large over the long narrative of Indian education in America, often shading the way scholars interpret earlier Indian engagement with Anglo-style education. This is particularly evident in scholarship that traces the roots of American education and civilization policies to Henry Knox in the 1790s. The emphasis scholars have placed on white men and their initiatives toward “civilizing” Indian people have inadvertently erased indigenous agency and power within the early education system. Informed by indigenous feminism, this article utilizes ethnohistorical approaches to piece together how Mohican women advocated for the prioritization of girls’ education in the 1790s. Their emphasis on female education resulted in greater prosperity for the nation, but their work to establish this model was quickly hijacked by white missionaries and Indian agents who took credit for the idea and Stockbridge success. The female-first strategy that was originally deployed to aid in the securing of Stockbridge land and sovereignty, was later adopted by white architects of Indian education as a tool of tribal destruction. Drawing upon Mohican women’s never-before-analyzed letters, Mohican craftworks, and a careful reevaluation of War Department and missionary records, this piece contributes to the growing body of literature on indigenous women and power in early America while complicating the narrative of the decline of indigenous women’s authority in the early years of the American Republic.