Panel 2: The Law: Interpretations of Legal History
Event Title
'A Certain Milk Cow': Legal Action in Mashpee District, 1836
Location
Campus Center, Room 3540, University of Massachusetts Boston
Start Date
29-3-2014 9:00 AM
End Date
29-3-2014 10:30 AM
Description
In research and writing, the art of balance is a challenge scholars of all disciplines encounter. My masters thesis “Fortifying the ‘body politic and corporate’: Government Formation and Legal Action in Marshpee District, 1834-1840” has challenged me as a historian to balance my interests with the necessity of properly representing my subject matter. Nuanced and intricate, my project endeavors to blend Mashpee Wampanoag history with the history of religion, law, culture, and society in antebellum New England.
An ever-present concern throughout the writing of this project was how do I balance my desire to discuss Mashpee in the context of law, culture, and society with the need to recognize the unique and distinctly Native narrative of Mashpee? This paper will address these questions and concerns along with the idea of continuity and change in the writing of history. I will engage with the historiographical approaches to Mashpee history, as well as current approaches, situating my approach to Mashpee within the existing cannon. Moreover, I will focus on how my research interests steered me in a different direction, resulting in a unique approach to a period largely ignored by scholars of Native and New England history.
'A Certain Milk Cow': Legal Action in Mashpee District, 1836
Campus Center, Room 3540, University of Massachusetts Boston
In research and writing, the art of balance is a challenge scholars of all disciplines encounter. My masters thesis “Fortifying the ‘body politic and corporate’: Government Formation and Legal Action in Marshpee District, 1834-1840” has challenged me as a historian to balance my interests with the necessity of properly representing my subject matter. Nuanced and intricate, my project endeavors to blend Mashpee Wampanoag history with the history of religion, law, culture, and society in antebellum New England.
An ever-present concern throughout the writing of this project was how do I balance my desire to discuss Mashpee in the context of law, culture, and society with the need to recognize the unique and distinctly Native narrative of Mashpee? This paper will address these questions and concerns along with the idea of continuity and change in the writing of history. I will engage with the historiographical approaches to Mashpee history, as well as current approaches, situating my approach to Mashpee within the existing cannon. Moreover, I will focus on how my research interests steered me in a different direction, resulting in a unique approach to a period largely ignored by scholars of Native and New England history.
Comments
PANEL 2 of the 2014 Graduate History Conference features presentations and papers under the topic of "The Law: Interpretations of Legal History."