Native Responses to European Intrusion: Cultural Persistence and Agency among Mission Neophytes in Spanish Colonial Northern California

Abstract

Archaeological and ethnohistorical data associated with five northern California Spanish missions are synthesized in order to explore postcontact Ohlone native cultural continuity during the first half century (ca. 1775–1825) of Roman Catholic proselytizing and recruitment. Although the vast majority of native converts occupied a marginal position within Spanish colonial society, it is argued that many of them implemented specific strategies in order to benefit from the mission system while still maintaining a semitraditional cultural orientation. The Franciscan order’s practice of granting seasonal leaves (paseos) to neophytes is viewed as a critical factor that facilitated the retention of an aboriginal worldview amidst the confusion and uncertainty of colonization.