Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 2002. Vol. 8. Eger Journal of American Studies.(Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 28)

Studies - András Tarnóc: Violence as Cultural Projection: The Sociological, Psychological, and Epistemological Implications of the Jamestown Massacre

reacting to a nonroutine event" (Brinkerhoff-White 556). Collective behavior, defined by Lofland as "a non-routine action by an emotionally aroused gathering of people who face an ambiguous situation" (qtd. in Brinkerhoff-White 556), or a social movement, defined as "an ongoing goal-directed effort to change social institutions from the outside" (Marwell and Oliver qtd. in Brinkerhoff-White 556), however, contain elements relevant to the events of the Jamestown Massacre. Therefore for the purpose of this paper the Jamestown Massacre will be viewed as a historical event to which the components of riots, terrorism, collective behavior, and social movement would be relevant. II The Jamestown Massacre was a carefully planned attack masterminded and put into execution by Opechancanaugh, the deputy chief of the Powhatan Indians on March 22, 1622. The pretext of the event was the death of Nemmattanow, or Jack the Feathers, a prominent member of the Powhatan tribe, at the hand of white settlers resulting from a dispute over Nemattanow being charged with a murder of a trader, called Morgan. The death of Nemattanow served as a right cause for Opechancanaugh to carry out his plan of revenge. Opechancanaugh harboring a lifelong determination to drive out the colonists was motivated by a fear of cultural deterritorialization, the rejection of the English conversion efforts, and a resolution to protect the Amerindian land. Opechancanaugh's career intersected more than once with the British settlers as he was one of the captors of John Smith and afterward was entrapped, held at gunpoint and imprisoned for ransom by the latter during trade negotiations between the two peoples (Dockstader 196-197). By 1622 the settlers of the Jamestown colony had been lulled into a feeling of false security, believing that peaceful relations with the Indians would last indefinitely. Having felt that the Indian threat has abated, the settlers ventured to move farther away from each other. Also, as Smith reports the colonists would invite Amerindians to their homes and offer them food and lodging. Opechancanaugh's declaration of ending previous hostilities: "He held the peace so firme, the sky should fall or he dissolved it" (Smith 294) reinforced the 249