Babel of the Atlantic explores the multilingualism of life in the colonial mid-Atlantic, which many colonists and visitors critically compared to the polyglot, biblical city of Babel. Wiggin and the volume’s contributors reconsider the negative associations of polyglot Pennsylvania, revealing instead the richness of a multicultural, multiethnic place. Beyond demonstrating the pervasiveness of various languages in colonial Pennsylvania and its surroundings, including Delaware, Dutch, English, French, German, and Mohican, the book’s authors highlight the ways translation and language were used to enforce power relations, define communities, and reflect interrelations among the diverse body of speakers in and around Philadelphia. The four parts of the book approach these linguistic processes from an interdisciplinary array of perspectives, including religion, education, race, and material culture.
Part I, titled “New Worlds, New Religions,” investigates the languages used in religious disputes, education, and relationships. In chapter 1, Patrick Erben investigates a printed attack on the...
