Writing Captivity In The Early Modern Atlantic: Circulations Of Knowledge And Authority In The Iberian And English Imperial Worlds (published By The ... And The University Of North Carolina Press)

Drawing on texts written by and about European and Euro-American captives in a variety of languages and genres, Lisa Voigt explores the role of captivity in the production of knowledge, identity, and authority in the early modern imperial world. The practice of captivity attests to the violence that infused relations between peoples of different faiths and cultures in an age of extraordinary religious divisiveness and imperial ambitions. But as Voigt demonstrates, tales of Christian captives among Muslims, Amerindians, and hostile European nations were not only exploited in order to emphasize cultural oppositions and geopolitical hostilities. Voigt's examination of Spanish, Portuguese, and English texts reveals another early modern discourse about captivity--one that valorized the knowledge and mediating abilities acquired by captives through cross-cultural experience. Voigt demonstrates how the flexible identities of captives complicate clear-cut national, colonial, and religious distinctions. Using fictional and nonfictional, canonical and little-known works about captivity in Europe, North Africa, and the Americas, Voigt exposes the circulation of texts, discourses, and peoples across cultural borders and in both directions across the Atlantic. This work dismantles stereotypes of the captivity narrative. The practice of captivity attests to the violence that infused relations between peoples of different faiths and cultures in an age of extraordinary religious divisiveness and imperial ambitions. But as Lisa Voigt demonstrates, tales of Christian captives among Muslims, Amerindians, and hostile European nations were not only exploited in order to emphasize cultural oppositions and geopolitical hostilities. Voigt's examination of Spanish, Portuguese, and English texts reveals another early modern discourse about captivity - one that valorized the knowledge and mediating abilities acquired by captives through cross-cultural experience. Voigt demonstrates how the flexible identities of captives complicate clear-cut national, colonial, and religious distinctions. Using fictional and nonfictional, canonical and little-known works about captivity in Europe, North Africa, and the Americas, Voigt exposes the circulation of texts, discourses, and peoples across cultural borders and in both directions across the Atlantic This book explores the role of captivity in the production of knowledge, identity, and authority in the early modern imperial world. The practice of captivity attests to the violence that infused relations between peoples of different faiths and cultures in an age of extraordinary religious divisiveness and imperial ambitions. The author demonstrates that tales of Christian captives among Muslims, Amerindians, and hostile European nations were not only exploited in order to emphasize cultural oppositions and geopolitical hostilities, but to valorize the knowledge and mediating abilities acquired by captives through cross-cultural experience. She shows how the flexible identities of captives complicate clear-cut national, colonial, and religious distinctions. True History Of Captivity Narratives In The Iberian Empires -- Captivity, Exile, And Interpretation In El Inca Garcilaso De La Vega's La Florida Del Inca -- Captive Subject And The Creole Author In Francisco Núñez De Pineda Y Bascuñán's Cautiverio Feliz Y Razón Individual De Las Guerras Dilatadas Del Reino De Chile -- Writing Home : The Captive Hero In José De Santa Rita Durão's Caramuru -- An English Harvest Of Spanish And Portugall Seede : Captives And Captured Texts In English New World Writing -- Comparative Crossings. Lisa Voigt. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Drawing on texts written by and about European and Euro-American captives in a variety of languages and genres, this book explores the role of captivity in the production of knowledge, identity, and authority in the early modern imperial world. The practice of captivity attests to the violence that infused relations between peoples of different faiths and cultures in an age of extraordinary religious divisiveness and imperial ambitions