California through Native eyes : reclaiming history

Resource Information

The work California through Native eyes : reclaiming history represents a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in Bates College. This resource is a combination of several types including: Work, Language Material, Books.

Label

California through Native eyes : reclaiming history

Title remainder

reclaiming history

Statement of responsibility

William J. Bauer Jr

Creator

• Bauer, William J., Jr.,

Author

• Bauer, William J., Jr.,

Subject

• Indians of North America -- California -- History
• Indians of North America -- Wars -- California
• Indians, Treatment of -- California
• Konkow Indians -- Folklore
• Paiute Indians -- Folklore
• Pomo Indians -- Folklore
• Indian mythology -- California
• Indians of North America -- California -- Folklore

Language

eng

Summary

"Most California histories begin with the arrival of the Spanish missionaries in the late eighteenth century and skip to the Gold Rush of 1849. Noticeably absent from these stories are the perspectives and experiences of the people who lived on the land long before European settlers arrived. Historian William Bauer seeks to correct that oversight through an approach that tells California history strictly through Native perspectives. Using oral histories of Concow, Pomo, and Paiute workers, taken as part of a New Deal federal works project, Bauer reveals how Native peoples have experienced and interpreted the history of the land we now call California. Combining these oral histories with creation myths and other oral traditions, he demonstrates the importance of sacred landscapes and animals and other nonhuman actors to the formation of place and identity. He also examines tribal stories of ancestors who prophesized the coming of white settlers and uses their recollections of the California Indian Wars to counteract popular narratives that downplay Native resistance. The result challenges the "California story" and enriches it with new voices and important points of view."--Provided by publisher

Member of

• Indigenous confluences

Biography type

contains biographical information

Cataloging source

DLC

Illustrations

• illustrations
• maps

Index

index present

Literary form

non fiction

Nature of contents

bibliography

Series statement

Indigenous confluences