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Malinche, Pocahontas, and Sacagawea: Indian Women as Cultural Intermediaries and National Symbols
The first Europeans to arrive in North America’s various regions relied on Native women to help them navigate unfamiliar customs and places. This study of three well-known and legendary female cultural intermediaries, Malinche, Pocahontas, and Sacagawea, examines their initial contact with Euro-Americans, their negotiation of multinational frontiers, and their symbolic representation over time.
Well before their first contact with Europeans or Anglo-Americans, the three women’s societies of origin—the Aztecs of Central Mexico (Malinche), the Powhatans of the mid-Atlantic coast (Pocahontas), and the Shoshones of the northern Rocky Mountains (Sacagawea)—were already dealing with complex ethnic tensions and social change. Using wit and diplomacy learned in their Native cultures and often assigned to women, all three individuals hoped to benefit their own communities by engaging with the new arrivals. But as historian Rebecca Kay Jager points out, Europeans and white Americans misunderstood female expertise in diplomacy and interpreted indigenous women’s cooperation as proof of their attraction to Euro-American men and culture. This confusion has created a historical misrepresentation of Malinche, Pocahontas, and Sacagawea as gracious Indian princesses, giving far too little credit to their skills as intermediaries.
Examining their initial contact with Europeans and their work on multinational frontiers, Jager removes these three famous icons from the realm of mythology and cultural fantasy and situates each woman’s behavior in her own cultural context. Drawing on history, anthropology, ethnohistory, and oral tradition, Jager demonstrates their shrewd use of diplomacy and fulfillment of social roles and responsibilities in pursuit of their communities’ future advantage.
Jager then goes on to delineate the symbolic roles that Malinche, Pocahontas, and Sacagawea came to play in national creation stories. Mexico and the United States have molded their legends to justify European colonization and condemn it, to explain Indian defeat and celebrate indigenous prehistory. After hundreds of years, Malinche, Pocahontas and Sacagawea are still relevant. They are the symbolic mothers of the Americas, but more than that, they fulfilled crucial roles in times of pivotal and enduring historical change. Understanding their stories brings us closer to understanding our own histories.
Well before their first contact with Europeans or Anglo-Americans, the three women’s societies of origin—the Aztecs of Central Mexico (Malinche), the Powhatans of the mid-Atlantic coast (Pocahontas), and the Shoshones of the northern Rocky Mountains (Sacagawea)—were already dealing with complex ethnic tensions and social change. Using wit and diplomacy learned in their Native cultures and often assigned to women, all three individuals hoped to benefit their own communities by engaging with the new arrivals. But as historian Rebecca Kay Jager points out, Europeans and white Americans misunderstood female expertise in diplomacy and interpreted indigenous women’s cooperation as proof of their attraction to Euro-American men and culture. This confusion has created a historical misrepresentation of Malinche, Pocahontas, and Sacagawea as gracious Indian princesses, giving far too little credit to their skills as intermediaries.
Examining their initial contact with Europeans and their work on multinational frontiers, Jager removes these three famous icons from the realm of mythology and cultural fantasy and situates each woman’s behavior in her own cultural context. Drawing on history, anthropology, ethnohistory, and oral tradition, Jager demonstrates their shrewd use of diplomacy and fulfillment of social roles and responsibilities in pursuit of their communities’ future advantage.
Jager then goes on to delineate the symbolic roles that Malinche, Pocahontas, and Sacagawea came to play in national creation stories. Mexico and the United States have molded their legends to justify European colonization and condemn it, to explain Indian defeat and celebrate indigenous prehistory. After hundreds of years, Malinche, Pocahontas and Sacagawea are still relevant. They are the symbolic mothers of the Americas, but more than that, they fulfilled crucial roles in times of pivotal and enduring historical change. Understanding their stories brings us closer to understanding our own histories.
368 pages, Hardcover
First published October 20, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
September 18, 2017
One day, the truth will out. Jager aptly demonstrates that women are strong, knowledgeable, valuable assets to humanity's survival and that HIS(manifest)STORY is not sufficient to explain the cultural chasm crossed by these three intelligent human beings in response to the needs of their indigenous brethren overwhelmed by European military advantage and "civilization". The author argues that in recording the contributions of these women, the social and political responsibilities as would have been assigned by indigenous norms (rather than the role of female from 17th-18th c. European perspective) need to be taken into consideration. Overcoming centuries of myth, blame, romanticization, and oblivion is no easy task, but Jager has done her homework, and makes a balanced argument in favor of giving these historical players serious recognition (as opposed to updating the same 18th c. views in a Disney animation).
March 12, 2016
Really more of a 3.5 out 5 star read.
It's an interesting read if you want to know a little bit more about the lives of Malinche, Pocahontas, and Sacagawea. There were a few parts that I got bored with; however, that could be in part due to the fact that I wasn't in the mood for non-fiction when I was reading them. (I have a paper due over this book tonight, so I couldn't just set the book aside until later!)
It's an interesting read if you want to know a little bit more about the lives of Malinche, Pocahontas, and Sacagawea. There were a few parts that I got bored with; however, that could be in part due to the fact that I wasn't in the mood for non-fiction when I was reading them. (I have a paper due over this book tonight, so I couldn't just set the book aside until later!)
November 21, 2024
A very scholarly book about three extremely influential Native American women... Malinche, Pocahontas, and Sacagawea ("Malinche, Pocahontas, and Sacagawea" by Rebecca K. Jager). The book takes an in-depth look at the historical context of the world of each of these three women and examines their lives and influence on those around them. The book is quite academic, but interesting.
People have mixed opinions about Malinche who facilitated communication between the Spanish and Nahua which ultimately led to the tragic downfall of the Aztec people. Some regard her as a traitor and others as the proverbial mother of the Mexican people who accepted Christianity and forged the birth of a new Catholic nation.
Pocahontas is most famous for assisting the early settlers in Jamestown and saving the life of John Smith. She married John Rolfe, an English tobacco planter who lived in the new colony thus symbolically uniting two different cultures. They had a son. Unfortunately, she died in 1616 after a trip to England.
Jager writes:
"Chief Powhatan gave the couple a generous stretch of land as a wedding gift. Rolfe also gained access to Pocahontas's agricultural expertise. With the success of Rolfe's tobacco plantation, the English finally discovered a profitable export. Pocahontas was crucial to her husband's entrepreneurial success, and his status in the Virginia Company steadily increased. He had married an 'Indian princess,' eased Indian hostilities (at least for a moment), and produced a profitable Virginia commodity at long last... Both sides of the cultural divide sanctioned their marriage, which established a period of relative peace."
Sacagawea made the Lewis and Clark expedition possible by being a skilled guide with a knowledge of indigenous plants for food and medicinal herbs. She also was a good interpreter. She facilitated the trading of goods and important things like horses. She almost single-handedly led the exploratory expedition in the American West and all the while carried her infant son (Jean Baptiste) as well. She also had an excellent knowledge of geography. She truly was an extraordinary human being. Her husband, a fur trapper, was less helpful.
Clark wrote:
"The instant Captain Lewis appears with Sacajawea, the people come out of the lodges and seem completely at ease. This made trade possible between the two groups."
Clark was fond of Sacagawea and her family. He ensured that Sacagawea's two children, a boy and a girl, received a good education. He and his wife raised both children after Sacagawea passed away.
Today Sacagawea's memory has been honoured by her image and that of her infant son being shown on a dollar coin that was issued in the year 2000. Several lakes and mountains in the American West bear her name.
As a rule of thumb women have excellent communication skills and are diplomatic in their approach to challenging relationships where they show a genuine willingness to listen to different points of view, they care very deeply about the common good and are unselfish in their goals, so it is an extremely surprising fact that we do not see more women in governments and leadership positions today. The world is definitely a poorer place without the influence of diplomatic women in such spheres.
People have mixed opinions about Malinche who facilitated communication between the Spanish and Nahua which ultimately led to the tragic downfall of the Aztec people. Some regard her as a traitor and others as the proverbial mother of the Mexican people who accepted Christianity and forged the birth of a new Catholic nation.
Pocahontas is most famous for assisting the early settlers in Jamestown and saving the life of John Smith. She married John Rolfe, an English tobacco planter who lived in the new colony thus symbolically uniting two different cultures. They had a son. Unfortunately, she died in 1616 after a trip to England.
Jager writes:
"Chief Powhatan gave the couple a generous stretch of land as a wedding gift. Rolfe also gained access to Pocahontas's agricultural expertise. With the success of Rolfe's tobacco plantation, the English finally discovered a profitable export. Pocahontas was crucial to her husband's entrepreneurial success, and his status in the Virginia Company steadily increased. He had married an 'Indian princess,' eased Indian hostilities (at least for a moment), and produced a profitable Virginia commodity at long last... Both sides of the cultural divide sanctioned their marriage, which established a period of relative peace."
Sacagawea made the Lewis and Clark expedition possible by being a skilled guide with a knowledge of indigenous plants for food and medicinal herbs. She also was a good interpreter. She facilitated the trading of goods and important things like horses. She almost single-handedly led the exploratory expedition in the American West and all the while carried her infant son (Jean Baptiste) as well. She also had an excellent knowledge of geography. She truly was an extraordinary human being. Her husband, a fur trapper, was less helpful.
Clark wrote:
"The instant Captain Lewis appears with Sacajawea, the people come out of the lodges and seem completely at ease. This made trade possible between the two groups."
Clark was fond of Sacagawea and her family. He ensured that Sacagawea's two children, a boy and a girl, received a good education. He and his wife raised both children after Sacagawea passed away.
Today Sacagawea's memory has been honoured by her image and that of her infant son being shown on a dollar coin that was issued in the year 2000. Several lakes and mountains in the American West bear her name.
As a rule of thumb women have excellent communication skills and are diplomatic in their approach to challenging relationships where they show a genuine willingness to listen to different points of view, they care very deeply about the common good and are unselfish in their goals, so it is an extremely surprising fact that we do not see more women in governments and leadership positions today. The world is definitely a poorer place without the influence of diplomatic women in such spheres.
September 22, 2025
A fascinating look into the lives of these women beyond the typical Eurocentric perspective that was failed by the author’s constant repetition.
This could have been so much shorter.
This could have been so much shorter.
May 3, 2021
I discussed this book in my March 2021 Wrap-Up on booktube!
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews