Translating Values
Mercantilism and the Many "Biographies" of Pocahontas
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 5146656 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Michael Tratner (Bryn Mawr College, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2009 |
| Volume | 32 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 128-136 |
| Publication date | 2009-12-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Biography (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0162-4962 • E-ISSN: 1529-1456 |
| Publisher | Project MUSE (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1353/bio.0.0079 |
| OpenAlex | W1973803792 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 1 |
Seventeenth century mercantilist economics is based on "translating": foreign wealth changes meaning or value in becoming domestic property. The Pocahontas story manipulates biographical evidence to mercantilist ends: she is "translated" by love and marriage into a British subject, "domesticating" her Indian lands into British/American property. Retelling this story keeps American mercantilism alive, reaffirming the mythic belief that the US is the inevitable end-product of all translation
Art · Literature · Mercantilism · Political science · Historical Economic and Legal Thought · Historical Economic and Social Studies · History · Law
| Highly cited | No |
|---|