Grim Commerce: Scalps, Bounties, and the Transformation of Trophy-Taking in the Early American Northeast, 1450-1770

The dissertation explored the practice of postmortem mutilation and trophy-taking in Early America, highlighting its significance in intercultural relations between Europeans and Native Americans. It examined how corporeal trophies, particularly human scalps, were used to convey power, mark cultural boundaries, and confer spiritual authority. The exchange of scalps for monetary rewards had severe implications, as it fused the "logic of elimination" with targeted violence, constructing racialized enemies and unifying the British and later American empire under the concept of whiteness. This practice contributed to the racialized violence that defined the boundaries of the emerging American empire.