Call for Papers: Quakers and American Indians from the 1650s to the 21st Century

Native Americans, Quakers and others around the world have celebrated the accommodation that marked the founding of Pennsylvania. After the Quakers lost control of the colony, their reputation for maintaining good relations with American Indians gave them influence in federal policy on Indian Reservations, at boarding schools and in adoption programs. The pattern of interaction between Quakers and American Indians has taken many turns, giving rise at various times to currents of distrust and disappointment, darkening the celebration of Pennsylvania’s mythical, original peace. Quakers and American Indians from the 1650s to the 21st century is an interdisciplinary conference examining from a historical perspective all aspects of relations between American Indians and the Society of Friends. The conference is sponsored by Bryn Mawr College, the Center for Native American and Indigenous Research at the American Philosophical Society, Haverford College, and the McNeil Center for Early American Studies, with additional funding from the Friends Historical Library, Swarthmore College. Our keynote speakers are John Echohawk, Pawnee, executive director of the Native American Rights Fund, and Jean Soderlund, author of Lenape Country: Delaware Valley Society before William Penn

Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

• The founding of Pennsylvania in the context of the history of the Lenape, Munsee, Susquehanna and Haudenosaunee
• The Friendly Association for the Gaining and Preserving Peace with the Indians by Pacific Measures
• The impact of the failure of the Quaker experiment on Native American aspirations for the continent
• Quaker roles in the making of federal policy
• American Indian children, and their response to Quakerism in the context of reservations, boarding schools, foster care and adoption
• Quaker engagement with spiritual movements associated with American Indians
• The legacies of this history for American Indians and Quakers today

Please submit proposals of approximately 500 words, along with curriculum vitae, to mceas@ccat.sas.upenn.edu no later than 28 October 2015. Proposals should be headed with the title of the paper and the author’s name, affiliation (if any), and contact information. We invite proposals from academic scholars at all stages of their careers, and also from American Indians, Quakers and others who can speak to the historical legacies of the long interaction between American Indians and the Society of Friends. Accepted presenters will be notified by early December 2015. Papers will be due for precirculation no later than 15 September 2016. Some support for travel and lodging will be available for paper presenters.