How Spaniards Became Chumash and Other Tales of Ethnogenesis Author(S): Brian D
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How Spaniards Became Chumash and Other Tales of Ethnogenesis Author(s): Brian D. Haley and Larry R. Wilcoxon Source: American Anthropologist, New Series, Vol. 107, No. 3 (Sep., 2005), pp. 432-445 Published by: Wiley on behalf of the American Anthropological Association Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3567028 . Accessed: 12/01/2014 01:46 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Wiley and American Anthropological Association are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to American Anthropologist. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 130.70.241.102 on Sun, 12 Jan 2014 01:46:29 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions BRIAN D. HALEY U LARRY R. WILCOXON How Spaniards Became Chumash and other Tales of Ethnogenesis ABSTRACT Inthe 1970s,a networkof families from Santa Barbara, California, asserted local indigenous identities as "Chumash." However,we demonstratethat these families have quite different social histories than either they or supportive scholars claim. Rather thandismissing these neo-Chumash as anomalous"fakes," we placetheir claims to Chumashidentity within their particular family socialhistories. We showthat cultural identities in these family lines have changed a numberof timesover the pastfour centuries. Thesechanges exhibit a rangethat is often not expected and renderthe emergence of neo-Chumash more comprehendible. The social historyas a wholeillustrates the ease andfrequency with which cultural identities change and the contexts that foster change. In light ofthese data, scholars should question their ability to essentializeidentity. [Keywords: ethnogenesis, indigenization ofmodernity, social constructionofidentity, Southwest borderlands, Mexican Americans] N THERECENTLY RECONSTRUCTED north wing of the have become emblematicof postmodernity.Luckily for Royal Presidioof Santa Barbara,California, there is a neo-Chumash(and the positionwe takehere), Baudrillard small museum.The museumhouses the following:(1) the chose Disneylandto symbolizethe pervasivesubstitution usual displaysof artifacts, photographs, and gifts;(2) a scale of simulationfor reality in the UnitedStates. model of the originalpresidio quadrangle, which was built It is temptingto suggestthat neo-Chumashare per- in 1782 by troopsrepresenting the kingof Spain; and (3) a petrating"ethnic fraud" by assertingancestry they do not largefolding display of family genealogies linking the 18th- have (Gonzales 1998). But should social scientistsdismiss and 19th-centurysoldados of the fortto los descendientes- neo-Chumashidentity as some kindof anomaly?Anthro- theirliving local descendants.The supportof los descen- pologistshave wrestled with the nature of cultural identities dientesis importantto the managementof Santa Barbara forat leasthalf a century.Initially, cultural identities were PresidioState Park. Yet not all descendantsare listedin the consideredprimordial and fundamentalto personhood, display,and amongthese are somewho wishthey were not only changingthrough the modernizationof "traditional soldado descendants.The lattergroup has had some suc- cultures"and nationbuilding. Others argued that identities cess achievingan identityas local indigenes-specifically, wereinstrumental cultural tools that people createdand re- as ChumashIndians. These neo-Chumash who emergedin shaped in the politicsof groupinteraction. Recognition of the 1970s lack Chumash or otherNative Californianan- identitychange grewwhen the "ethnicboundaries" con- cestryand are descendedalmost exclusively from the peo- ceptwas introducedby FredrikBarth (1969), and boundary ple who colonizedCalifornia for Spain from1769 to 1820. crossingwas recognizedas common.As culture was brought Theirsocial historyis distinctfrom that of local indigenous back into the picturein the 1980s,essentialists continued communities.Yet local governmentsrepatriate precolonial a position similarto earlierprimordialists, insisting that human remainsto them forreburial and scholarsdefend tradition,language, or ancestrydefines and dictatesiden- and promotetheir claims of Chumashancestry, try to "re- tity,whereas constructivists demonstrated how such seem- store"Chumash traditions to themthrough their research, ing essenceswere activelyproduced, and ethnohistorians or approachthem for lessons in traditionalChumash cul- honed the concept of "ethnogenesis"-theemergence of tureto putinto papers and textbooks.Had Jean Baudrillard's new groupsand identities-todescribe community fission (1988) travelsthrough "America" not missedthis little cor- and coalescence.By the end ofthe century, most anthropol- nerof California"simulacra," neo-Chumash culture might ogistsappeared to acceptthat cultural identities are socially AMERICANANTHROPOLOGIST, Vol. 107, Issue3, pp. 432-445, ISSN0002-7294, electronic ISSN 1548-1433. ? 2005 bythe American Anthropological Association.Allrights reserved. Please direct all requests for permission to photocopy orreproduce article content through the University ofCalifornia Press'sRights and Permissions website, at http://www.ucpress.edu/journals/rights.htm. This content downloaded from 130.70.241.102 on Sun, 12 Jan 2014 01:46:29 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Haleyand Wilcoxon * Talesof Ethnogenesis 433 contextualized,constructed, manipulated, and both polit- and contextualizethe identitychanges we did not present icallyand emotionallymotivated. However, cultural iden- earlier. titiesalso maintainthe appearanceof havingessential and To documentneo-Chumash social history,we were enduringqualities. We now knowthat the historicalmem- drawnback intoa literatureand documentaryevidence on orylong consideredcrucial to culturalidentity is balanced identityformation in colonialMexico and amongMexican- by a historicalimagination. originimmigrants to the UnitedStates familiar to us from Nevertheless,questions remain over just how malleable otherresearch (e.g., Haley 1997). We were struckby how identitiesare and whatthese new understandings mean for abundantand well documentedidentity changes in par- policyand practice.Taking up the former,Philip Kohl ar- ticularfamily lines were. Using primary sources, we found gues that "culturaltraditions cannot be fabricatedout of sequentialidentity changes in particularfamilies back to whole cloth," as he believes strictconstructivists allege. themid-18th century; using secondary data, we tracedback He favorscontextual constructivism, which "acceptsthat to the mid-16thcentury.2 We knowof no cases in the lit- social phenomenaare continuouslyconstructed and ma- eraturewith similarlylong historiesof repeatedidentity nipulatedfor historically ascertainable reasons" (1998:233). changesin particularfamily lines, but withsimilar meth- The neo-Chumashpose a challenge:Their example ap- ods otherssurely could be added. Also,unlike most pub- pearsto be a clearcase of whole-clothfabrication, yet the lished cases, the identitychanges in this historyare not reasonsfor their ethnogenesis are readilyascertained. Per- confinedto macro categories,such as fromone type of haps most intriguingis the factthat the social historyof AmericanIndian to another.They cross supposedlyim- neo-Chumashfamilies contains a clear sequence of iden- permeableboundaries without intermarriage or adoption. titychanges with ascertainable causes spanningfour cen- These boundarycrossings are one reasonwhy scholars of- turies.Rarely do anthropologistsconfront such unequivo- ten failto accuratelydescribe neo-Chumash social history: cal evidenceof manyidentity changes and its contextsin Few expectto have to crossborders of ethnicliteratures to the same familylines over such a long time.We feelthat traceparticular families. thishistory reveals in starkfashion the normalcyof iden- As JohnMoore pointsout withrespect to the signif- titychange as politicallymotivated, socially contextualized icance of ethnicgroup names and naming,"the mutual action. perspectivesrepresented in ethnonymyare a sensitivein- In a 1997 article,we addressedthe implicationsof dicator[sic] of social and politicalissues, past and present" ethnogenesisfor policy and practiceby describingthe role (2001:33). Takingvolatile 16th-centuryMexico as an ar- anthropologistsplayed in constructingand legitimizing bitrarystarting point, our subjectswere assignedobliga- ChumashTraditionalism, the spiritualaffiliation of many tions and privilegesvia Spain's impositionof a caste sys- neo-Chumash.We expressedconcern about both conceal- temand a gentede raz6n-gentesin raz6ndivision associated mentof thislegitimization and the dismissalof such new withthe legal distinction between the repablicade espaioles cultureas spuriousor fakeunder federalheritage policy and repablicade indios.3We can tracemobility between cat- (Haleyand Wilcoxon1997, 1999). AmongChumash schol- egories,facilitated by frontiersocial conditionsand willing ars, criticsdenied the firstargument and overlookedthe orunaware authorities, to theend ofthe 18th century when second. They raised objectionsbased on theirrejection the castesystem collapsed. Our subjectswere among those