Commodity Exchange

Southeastern Indians and British settlers used both asocial and social forms of exchange, and thus commodity exchange was not a foreign concept to either party. Under the logic of mercantilism, the British were anxious about commodity exchange and strove to curtail the trading relationships formed between white Indian traders and Southeastern Indians. Southeastern Indian leaders envisioned their role as protecting their town’s consumers and traders. They negotiated trading terms and practices.

Gift Exchange

Southeastern Indian leaders and colonial leaders used gifts to try to control their neighbors. The colonists assumed that Indians who received British gifts would use those gifts (usually guns) to forward British interests. Southestern Indian leaders hoped that by consuming Indian gifts colonists would act as peaceful neighbors.

Conclusion

The conclusion draws all of the previous chapters together by tracing the life of a deerskin from production, through exchange, and to consumption. It concludes that the British did not dismantle Southeastern Indian beliefs about labor and social reproduction.

Consumption of Commodities

Purchasers have total control over how they consume commodities. The British did not attempt to control the consumption habits of their Native American trade partners, nor the Native Americans theirs. Both parties consumed cross-cultural goods according to their taste, detaching objects from their natal culture.

Production

This chapter compares Southeastern Indian and British myths and ideologies about labor. It argues that whereas the British drew a direct line between a product and its manufacturer, Southeastern Indians obscured individuals’ labor to emphasize social cohesion. These myths were sometimes at odds with live realities.

Introduction

The introduction explains the methods (derived mostly from anthropology) that the author will use to explain production, gift exchange, commodity exchange, and consumption in the colonial Southeast. It describes the social and cultural changes occurring in Southeastern Indian communities and British communities on the eve of contact.