Abstract
While the tensions of English culture revolved around whether the most effective force in the world was God or the wilful acts of mankind, nature was also recognized as a third, though subordinate, force. The English had no consistent notion of ‘race,’ if by that is implied an immutable transference of identity from one generation to the next, or the inheritance of fixed mental and physical characteristics. Instead, the body was fluid and integrally tied to changes in the cosmos. English concerns about how the climate of Virginia would affect people thus threatened to jeopardize the very colonial enterprise itself. The promoters constantly emphasized the suitableness of the Virginian climate for English bodies. This argument was predicated on, and necessitated, the belief that the Indians’ bodies were just healthier and stronger versions of English ones. For a brief window of time, English medical and geographical theories aligned with their deeper metaphysical beliefs to posit the equality of the Indian.
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Rome, A.S. (2017). A Digression on Air: Race and Climate in Early America. In: The English Embrace of the American Indians. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-46197-7_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-46197-7_4
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Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
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