Go-between: The Roles of Native American Women and Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca in Southern Texas in the 16th Century

1999 ◽  
Vol 112 (445) ◽  
pp. 332 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mariah Wade
Keyword(s):  
Native American ◽  
16Th Century ◽  
Native American Women ◽  
American Women ◽  
Cabeza De Vaca

Representing Native American Women in Early Colonial American Writings: Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, Juan Ortiz and John Smith

Sederi ◽  
2009 ◽  
pp. 25-45
Author(s):  
Mª Carmen Gomez Galisteo
Keyword(s):  
Native American ◽  
Native Americans ◽  
Gender Roles ◽  
Contact Period ◽  
Native American Women ◽  
American Women ◽  
Early Colonial ◽  
Hernando De Soto ◽  
Female Roles ◽  
Cabeza De Vaca

Most observers of Native Americans during the contact period between Europe and the Americas represented Native American women as monstrous beings posing potential threats to the Europeans’ physical integrity. However, the most well known portrait of Native American women is John Smith’s description of Pocahontas, the Native American princess who, the legend goes, saved Smith from being executed. Transformed into a children’s tale, further popularized by the Disney movie, as well as being the object of innumerable historical studies questioning or asserting the veracity of Smith’s claims, the fact remains that the Smith-Pocahontas story is at the very core of North American culture. Nevertheless, far from being original, John Smith’s story had a precedent in the story of Spaniard Juan Ortiz, a member of the ill-fated Narváez expedition to Florida in 1527. Ortiz, who got lost in America and spent the rest of his life there, was also rescued by a Native American princess from being sacrificed in the course of a Native American ritual, as recounted by the Gentleman of Elvas, member of the Hernando de Soto expedition. Yet another vision of Native American women is that offered by Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, another participant of the Narváez expedition who, during almost a decade in the Americas fulfilled a number of roles among the Native Americans, including some that were regarded as female roles. These female roles provided him with an opportunity to avert captivity as well as a better understanding of gender roles within Native American civilization. This essay explores the description of Native American women posed by John Smith, Juan Ortiz and Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca so as to illustrate different images of Native American women during the early contact period as conveyed by these works.

scholarly journals Cicatricial Alopecia in Identical Twin Lumbee Native American Women

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 108-111
Author(s):  
Lindsay C. Strowd ◽  
Jacob Subash ◽  
Sean McGregor ◽  
Amy McMichael
Keyword(s):  
Native American ◽  
Identical Twin ◽  
Native American Women ◽  
American Women
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