Here is the synopsis of our sample research paper on Jane Tomkin/"Indians". Have the paper e-mailed to you 24/7/365.
Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 5 page reaction paper to an essay by Jane Tomkin entitled "Indians." The writer answers questions about the essay, which deal with epistemology of historical scholarship and what it says about European colonial relations with American Indians. No additional sources cited.
Page Count:
5 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_khjtom.rtf
Buy This Term Paper »
Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
inhabitants the Western Hemisphere "Indians" because he mistakenly thought that he had landed in India. Jane Tomkin uses this term to title her essay undoubtedly because it exemplifies the way
in which Europeans have consistently perceived Native Americans in terms of their own experience, biases, and perceptions. What is the main, the overriding issue Tompkins is addressing? Tomkin began
exploring the subject of American Indian relations with Puritan settlers in preparation for teaching a class on colonial American literature (Tomkin 2). All she wanted was to have a general
idea of how the two groups interacted. However, finding no consensus on the topic she was drawn deeper and deeper into it, searching for her answer. Tomkin also details how
the topic took on new meaning for her as she delved deeper into it. She points out that since the interaction between Europeans and American Indians resulted in virtual
genocide, it became important to her to understand this "past mistake" which, "presumably we studied history in order to avoid repeating" (Tomkin 2). In order to come to a position,
based on historical scholarship, on this issue, Tomkin turns to a variety of sources. Therefore, her overriding issue is not precisely what constituted the relationship between European colonials and American
Indians, but rather how scholarship can lead an historian to this answer. What is her conclusion to this overriding issue? Over the course of the essay, Tomkin embraces
and rejects a broad variety of scholarly perspectives, as she realizes that each one presents in some form the biases and preconceptions of the historian. When this occurs, she finds
herself doubting all of this historians ideas and "facts" and moves on to another area of scholarship. Eventually, she comes to the conclusion that her poststructuralism-influenced mindset is itself a
...