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

annals of British history. As Andrew Marr wittily pointed out, that "once upon a time the Americans were the British, lost. On the narrow lip of a distant continent, clutching their faith, songs, customs and memories, they were 17th-century space travelers, cut off from Planet Europe with its corruptions and tyrannies" (39). Also, at this time the edifices of a racial hierarchy so characteristic of American history had not yet been in place, thus in fact this tragic encounter between two hostile cultures occurred in a yet to be racialized cultural arena. Any researcher dealing with this event has to overcome several obstacles, one being the classification of the very episode. A massacre is not a scientific category, as it is informed with substantial emotional content. At first glance due to the tripartite definition of a riot: "a tumultuous disturbance of the peace' resulting from unlawful assembly aiming 'to strike terror into the public mind" (www.lectlaw.com/def2/q053htm), the events do not qualify as such. Certainly the Jamestown Massacre did not originate as an unlawful assembly, as no laws could prohibit the gathering of Native Americans at that time. However, the brutal attack in fact created "a tumultuous disturbance of the peace" and the method employed definitely fulfilled the third requirement. Another possible approach would involve the comparison of the events of the Jamestown Massacre to the definition of terrorism, established by the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations as "the unlawful use of force and violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives" (28 C. F. R. Section 0.85 in www.terrorismfiles.org/encyclopaedia/terrorism.html). Whereas the application of the terrorism label would immediately give rise to charges of presentism, the events of March 22, 1622 certainly resulted in violence both against the government of the Jamestown colony and the individual inhabitants as well. Furthermore, the attackers attempted to realize both political and social objectives demonstrated by the desire to eliminate the English presence and the conversion efforts respectively. Moreover, the premeditated coordination of the attack and the method of its execution resist unequivocal labeling. Also, the events cannot be seen as an example of traditional crowd behavior, as the Powhatan Indians did not form "a gathering of people 248