History 308
Indian-European Encounters in Early North America:
The Huron Feast of the Dead


Spring 2009                                      Prof. Erik Seeman
T Th 8:00-9:20am                             Park Hall 534
Clemens 17                                       645-2181 x534
seeman@buffalo.edu                        Office: Tues. 1-3

Goals:  In the 1620s, Huron Indians living north of Lake Ontario were visited by French missionaries attempting to convert them to Catholicism.  Over the next three decades, Hurons and the French lived uneasily together, until the Huron confederacy was destroyed by Iroquois attacks in 1649.  This course uses the death practices of both groups to illuminate the similarities and differences in religious sensibilities that came into contact in early North America.  In particular, we will examine the Huron Feast of the Dead, a ritual that occurred every ten years in which decomposed bodies were taken down from scaffolds and reburied in a central pit.  We will compare and contrast this with French burial practices, which likewise included the veneration of human remains (saints’ relics) and reburial of dry bones (in charnel houses).  We will see that in their attitudes toward death and dying, the French and Hurons were more like one another than they are like us.  We will compare this specific example of cross-cultural encounter with others from elsewhere in North America.

UB Learns:  Go to UB Learns for study questions, lecture outlines, powerpoint images, and useful links.

Assignments:  Requirements for this class are attendance in lectures, three three-page papers, and a final research paper of 8-10 pages.

•Three-page papers:  These will be based on the assigned readings.

•Class participation:  Even though this is a large class, you are expected to participate regularly in class discussion.  Attendance will also be factored into class participation.

• Research paper:  There are numerous primary sources documenting the French-Huron encounter:  descriptions written by explorers and missionaries, as well as archaeological remains.  Based on these sources you will write an 8-10-page paper on a topic of your choosing.

Grading:        Three-page papers:        15% each
                        Class participation:        10%
                        Research paper:             45%

Plagiarism Policy:  According to the UB Undergraduate Catalog, "Students are responsible for the honest completion and representation of their work, for the appropriate citation of sources, and for respect for others' academic endeavors.  By placing their name on academic work, students certify the originality of all work not otherwise identified by appropriate acknowledgments."  A student found to be in violation of these guidelines will receive a sanction appropriate to the severity of the infraction, up to and including receiving an "F" for the course.

Readings:  There are no books assigned for this class.  Readings marked with (Reserve) may be accessed through the UB Libraries online catalogue by clicking on “Course Reserve.”  Readings marked with (EENA) are accessible through the Early Encounters in North America database through the UB Libraries website.



Week One:  Models of Indian-European Contact

Jan. 13:  Introduction

Jan. 15:  New Worlds and Middle Grounds

Readings:  James H. Merrell, “The Indians’ New World:  The Catawba Experience,” William and Mary Quarterly 41 (Oct. 1984): 537-65  (Reserve)

Georges E. Sioui, “Preface” and “Introduction” in Huron-Wendat:  The Heritage of the Circle (1999), xi-xxi (Reserve)


Week Two:  Origins of Wendake I

Jan. 20:  Movement and Migration

Jan. 22:  Agriculture and Kinship

Readings:  Gary Warrick, “Precontact Population of the Wendat-Tionontaté,” in A Population History of the Huron-Petun, A.D. 500-1650 (2008), 154-91 (Reserve)

Jesuit Relations 10:125-39 (EENA)


Week Three:  Origins of Wendake II

Jan. 27:  Religion

Jan. 29:  Deathways

Readings:  Elisabeth Tooker, “Religion,” in An Ethnography of the Huron Indians, 1615-1649 (1964), 72-148 (Reserve)


Week Four:  Catholicism and Colonization

Feb. 3: Religion and Deathways

Feb. 5: Columbus and Exploration – three-page paper due in lecture

Readings:  John Bossy, “Kith and Kin,” in Christianity in the West, 1400-1700 (1985), 14-34 (Reserve)

R. Po-Chia Hsia, “France,” in The World of Catholic Renewal, 1540-1770 (2005), 68-75 (Reserve)


Week Five:  Arrival of Europeans

Feb. 10:  Champlain

Feb. 12:  Sagard

Readings:  H.P. Biggar, ed., The Works of Samuel de Champlain, 6 vols. (1936) vol. 3, pp. 136E-168E (EENA)

Gabriel Sagard, “Our Arrival at the Huron Country,” in Long Journey to the Country of the Hurons, ed. George M. Wrong (1939; orig. 1632), 68-89 (Reserve)


Week Six:  Jesuit Missionaries

Feb. 17:  Brébeuf

Feb. 19:  First Conversion Attempts

Readings:  Joseph P. Donnelly, S.J., “Jean de Brébeuf,” in Jean de Brébeuf (1975), 1-18 (Reserve)

Jesuit Relations 10:11-67 (EENA)


Week Seven:  Feast of the Dead

Feb. 24:  The Kettle

Feb. 26:  Archaeology – three-page paper due in lecture

Readings:  Kenneth E. Kidd, "The Excavation and Historical Identification of a Huron Ossuary," American Antiquity 18 (April 1953): 359-79 (Reserve)


Week Eight:  Religious Encounters

Mar. 3:  Epidemics and Deathbed Scenes

Mar. 5:  Joseph Chiwatenhwa

Readings:  Jesuit Relations 13:85-125, 15:77-99 (EENA)


Week Nine:  Resistance

Mar. 17:  Sainte-Marie

Mar. 19:  Traditionalists

Readings:  Jesuit Relations 19:81-119 (EENA)


Week Ten:  Destruction

Mar. 24:  Iroquois Attacks

Mar. 26:  Martyrdom – three-page paper due in lecture

Readings:  Jesuit Relations 33:139-47, 34:25-37, 34:123-37 (EENA)


Week Eleven:  Legacy

Mar. 31:  Women

Apr. 2:  Diaspora – research paper topic due in lecture

Readings:  Karen Anderson, “Chain Her By One Foot,” in Chain Her By One Foot:  The Subjugation of Native Women in Seventeenth-Century New France (1991), 192-223 (Reserve)

Bruce G. Trigger, “The Huron of the Upper Great Lakes,” in The Children of Aataentsic:  A History of the Huron People to 1660 (1976), 820-40 (Reserve)


Week Twelve:  Comparative Perspectives

Apr. 7:  New England

Apr. 9:  Mexico – bibliography due in lecture

Readings:  James Axtell, “Reduce Them to Civility,” in The Invasion Within:  The Contest of Cultures in Colonial North America (1985), 131-78 (Reserve)


Week Thirteen:  Research Week

Apr. 14:  No lecture – work on research paper

Apr. 16:  No lecture – work on research paper – thesis statement due via email

Readings:  none


Week Fourteen:  Presentations

Apr. 21:  Brief Research Presentations

Apr. 23:  Brief Research Presentations

Readings:  none – work on research paper


Research paper due in the History Department by noon Thursday April 30