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‘A Wigwam to Westminster’: Performing Mohawk Identity in Imperial Britain, 1890s–1990s
Author(s) -
Morgan Cecilia
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
gender and history
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.153
H-Index - 30
eISSN - 1468-0424
pISSN - 0953-5233
DOI - 10.1111/1468-0424.00305
Subject(s) - mohawk , scholarship , context (archaeology) , identity (music) , empire , modernity , consumption (sociology) , period (music) , british empire , national identity , history , imperial unit system , sociology , gender studies , art , ancient history , law , aesthetics , political science , social science , archaeology , politics , philosophy , linguistics
This article examines the travels and appearances of Canadian Mohawk writers, lecturers, and performers E. Pauline Johnson and John Brant‐Sero, who appeared in Britain as self‐identified Mohawks, Canadians, and members of the British Empire during the late‐Victorian and Edwardian years of heightened imperial sentiment. The article draws upon feminist scholarship on performance, imperialism, and culture and consumption for the late‐Victorian and Edwardian period. It argues that, while Johnson and Brant‐Sero challenged stereotypes of Mohawk gender relations, they also were part of imperialist modernity; their gendered ‘performances’– on and off‐stage – must be analysed within the context of the gendered cultures of consumption and performance of late‐Victorian and Edwardian British society.