University of Texas at El Paso DigitalCommons@UTEP Open Access Theses & Dissertations 2013-01-01 Competing Visions: The olitP ics Of Racial And Ethnic Identity Formation And Land Use In Pasadena, 1771-1890 Yvette Jeanne Saavedra University of Texas at El Paso, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.utep.edu/open_etd Part of the History Commons Recommended Citation Saavedra, Yvette Jeanne, "Competing Visions: The oP litics Of Racial And Ethnic Identity Formation And Land Use In Pasadena, 1771-1890" (2013). Open Access Theses & Dissertations. 1723. https://digitalcommons.utep.edu/open_etd/1723 This is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@UTEP. It has been accepted for inclusion in Open Access Theses & Dissertations by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@UTEP. For more information, please contact [email protected]. “COMPETING VISIONS: THE POLITICS OF RACIAL AND ETHNIC IDENTITY FORMATION AND LAND USE IN PASADENA, 1771-1890” YVETTE J. SAAVEDRA Department of History APPROVED: _________________________________ Cheryl E. Martin, Ph.D., Chair _________________________________ Jeffrey P. Shepherd, Ph.D. _________________________________ Irasema Coronado, Ph.D. _________________________________ Deena J. González, Ph.D. __________________________________ Benjamin C. Flores, Ph.D. Dean of the Graduate School Copyright © By Yvette J. Saavedra 2013 “COMPETING VISIONS: THE POLITICS OF RACIAL AND ETHNIC IDENTITY FORMATION AND LAND USE IN PASDENA, 1771-1890” By YVETTE J. SAAVEDRA, B.A, M.A DISSERTATION Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at El Paso in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department of History THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT EL PASO AUGUST 2013 Acknowledgments So many wonderful people line the long and winding journey to completing this dissertation and my Ph.D. Along this road, filled with obstacles and roadblocks, these people helped push me along when my strength waned and it seemed that the work would be never ending. They often reassured me that my sacrifices were worthwhile and that someday the work would pay off. Both professionally and personally, I have had the support of mentors, family, and friends who have guided me and supported me in countless ways. I could not have completed this dissertation without their love and support. I would like to thank my dissertation committee for all of their hard work and dedication to getting me through this process. I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my dissertation chair, valued mentor, and friend, Dr. Cheryl E. Martin. From the beginning of my graduate career at the University of Texas El Paso, she offered encouragement and support for my research interests and work, challenging me to work hard and do my best. The dissertation was no different, through the years she stood by providing me guidance and support. I would like to thank Dr. Jeffrey Shepherd, professor, advisor and friend; he always provided me much needed sanity throughout this entire process reassuring me that the goal was in reach. Additionally, I also thank Dr. Iresema Coronado for her hard work and advice on the dissertation. I offer a warm, heartfelt thank you to Dr. Deena González, professor, esteemed mentor, and trusted friend. Without knowing it, my journey to the Ph.D. began in her undergraduate Chicana/o History class so many years ago. Thank you for your invaluable support, guidance, and friendship throughout the years. She played an integral part in my long journey and in my growth as a scholar. iv I have had the opportunity to work in great departments with very wonderful colleagues. I thank my colleagues in Chicana/o Studies and Women’s Studies at Loyola Marymount University. I especially thank Karen Mary Davalos, Marne Campbell, and Elizabeth Faulkner for their friendship and support; often they provided much-needed laughter and managed to make me smile at the most stressful moments. I also thank Eliza Rodriguez y Gibson, Juan Mah y Busch, Stella Oh, and Nancy Jabbra. I also thank my colleagues and friends in the History Department at Santa Monica College. A special thanks to Lesley Kawaguchi and Sang Chi, your help, advice, and friendship has been invaluable to me. I also thank Michael Kerze, Donatriel Clayborne, Suzanne Boregehi, and Mike Soldatenko for their continued encouragement. Throughout the years, I have been fortunate enough to work with and learn from an amazing community of scholars. Antonia Castañeda, Deena González, Emma Pérez, Alicia Gaspar de Alba, Ellie Hernandez, Karen Mary Davalos, Anne Marie Perez, Maria Soldatenko, and countless others, have taught me the importance of the work that we do as academics and as women of color in the academy. I appreciate their guidance and help with my work but I also admire them for their dedication to making a difference on a grander scale. Writing the dissertation is an all-consuming and isolating process. Despite my many disappearing acts, I thank the many friends who stood by me and gave me the space to work on this project. I thank Jose Guerra, Renee Valenzuela, and Griselda Suarez for their love and support. I especially thank Lamin Whittaker whom since the age of sixteen has been a great friend and advocate. He has always helped me think about things in new ways. Thanks for helping me keep it DIY and Punk Rock. Finally, I thank my family for their unconditional love during my years in graduate school and while writing the dissertation. I am thankful to my mother and father, Leonor and v Jorge Saavedra, for instilling in me a love of education and for working hard to help me get to college. I especially thank my dad for his help proofreading my Spanish and my mom for helping me retype a section of the dissertation. I am grateful to my sister, Crystal, for many invaluable lessons. She does not know it, but her kind words supported me in innumerable ways. I thank my brother-in-law Andrew, for reading and editing an early draft of the dissertation while adjusting to the new responsibilities of fatherhood. This proves that a dissertation is a family effort. Lastly, I thank my partner Mireya Alcazar for her unconditional love and support. Mireya you most of all, know this journey. Through the data loss, corrupted files, slow internet connection, and the overall chaos of writing the dissertation you stood by my side and assured me that everything would be okay. I could not have gotten through this without you and words cannot express my gratitude and love. I also thank the Alcazar family, Doña Luz, Victor Jr., Carmen, Celina and Baldemar, Gustavo, AB, Mareena, Esteban, Tercero, and Andrea for accepting me into their family and for their love and unwavering support. I especially thank Celina Alcazar and Baldemar Saucedo for opening their home to me during my countless trips to the archives at UC Berkeley and the Sacramento State Archives. I thank Karina, Tony, Doña Berta, and Ernie for taking an interest in my work and helping push me towards its completion. I dedicate this work to all of you, thank you. vi Abstract This project studies the competing visions of land use and racial/ethnic exclusion in Pasadena, California throughout the period from 1771-1890. This work examines how the landscape of the San Gabriel Region during the Spanish, Californio, and American Period reflects culturally subjective ideas about race and visions of optimal land use. It looks at the links between the racialization of space and people and interrogates how racial and cultural attitudes regarding optimal land use constructed the social identities of those who lived in the region. By looking at the continuities that exist between Spanish, Californio, and American attitudes regarding land use it shows that the Mission, Rancho, and homestead became tangible representations of political projects engendered through the process of empire building, nation building, expansion, and conquest during each historical period. The common goal of gaining and maintaining control of land and defining landless groups as social, economic, and cultural others was a common tenant of each colonization project. Immediately following the Spanish Conquest, Mission Secularization, and the U.S –Mexico War, the region became contested ground where dominant groups with differing political ideologies negotiated their place in society as a means of making more capital and maintaining their social status; often using land ownership as the basis for societal distinction. Within their respective colonization processes, Spanish missionaries, Californio Rancheros, and American settlers followed a program based on constructed racial and cultural difference as a means of legitimizing their control of the land and solidifying their social power over the landless populations. vii Table of Contents Page Acknowledgements….……...……………………………………………………………………iv Abstract.………………………………………………………………………………………....vii Table of Contents……………………………………………………………………………….viii Chapter 1. Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………....1 2. Land Use and the Development of a Regional Economy ……………………………….69 3. Social and Cultural Identity at Mission San Gabriel …………………………………..128 4. Ranchero Culture and the Markings of Race, Culture and Status …..…………………198 5. San Pascual in the American Period..…………………………………………………..253 6 Conclusion ……………………………………………………………………………...324 Bibliography …………………………………………………………………………………...342 Curriculum Vita ………………………………………………………………………………..358 viii