AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF Hannah J. Schmidt, for the Master of Arts degree in History, presented on May 23, 2017, at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. (Do not use abbreviations.) TITLE: Surviving Plymouth: Causes of Change in Wampanoag Culture in Colonial New England MAJOR PROFESSOR: Dr. Kay J. Carr The following research investigates the relationship between the Wampanoag tribe and English colonists of Southeastern Massachusetts throughout the seventeenth century. The Wampanoags, under the leadership of grand sachem Massasoit, were the first people to befriend members of the Plymouth Colony upon their landing in Massachusetts Bay in November 1620. The relationship that was built between the two groups was instrumental in establishing English colonial rule throughout the region that would later expand beyond Massachusetts. The dynamics of this relationship and the subsequent political, economic, and cultural dominance of the English throughout New England led to massive changes in Wampanoag culture and practices. Because of the early timing and unique closeness of their friendship, it is necessary to examine the Wampanoag tribe’s interactions with the colonists as a distinct experience that is, in many ways, specific to their tribe and cannot wholly be a depiction of larger relations between the English colonists and Native American groups of the period. The distinctive nature of the Wampanoag-English relationship is also particularly enlightening to the conflicting dynamic between native perspectives and practices and that which the English colonists brought with them and later imposed. The ideas of each group informed how they interacted with each other throughout the seventeenth century. Upon the establishment of English dominance throughout the region, the ideological frameworks within English settler-colonialism, in conjunction with environmental and other economic influences, threatened traditional Wampanoag culture and practices and led to an immense transformation in Wampanoag ways of living that was both willingly and unwillingly adopted.

Recent histories of cultural encounters in colonial America emphasize how interactions between native Americans and Europeans altered both cultures. In order to facilitate such an investigation, scholars employ ethno history-a multidisciplinary approach that uses methods and sources from anthropology, archeology, and history. While it remains the dominant methodology for studying cultural encounters, others are critical of such studies pointing to the dangers of using European sources in order to understand native American culture. Some literary scholars argue that the only information that historians can gain from European texts and images are representations of the indigenous population. Using cultural encounters between English missionaries and Wampanoag Indians on Martha's Vineyard between 1642 and 1727 as my case study, I combine these seemingly incompatible methodologies to analyze relations in three cultural arenas: religion, gender, and literacy. I argue that through their resistance to English power, the Indians were able to continually adjust to life in their ever-changing new world. Even though their culture changed dramatically during this period, there were also able to resist full acculturation by maintaining a distinct Wampanoag identity. / Department of History