We Are the Land: A History of Native California

Abstract

Historians Damon Akins and William Bauer unveil a fascinating narrative about California Indians that breaks free from conventional boundaries of time and space. In this work, they argue that Indigenous people are central to the history and future of California as they continue to fight against the idea once held by colonial entities that abundant natural resources were meant to be exploited and “could not be Indigenous land” (p. 4). Akins and Bauer achieve their goal of correcting misconceptions about the history of Native California and of demonstrating that Indigenous peoples are still here despite the violence, slavery, genocide, and state policies perpetrated against them.The authors rely largely on secondary sources interspersed with oral histories of Indigenous people. The book is evenly divided in its coverage of topics, from pre-Hispanic Native practices, stories, and uses of the environment through Native peoples' struggles during the Spanish, Mexican, and American periods; the last four chapters are devoted to the twentieth century. The topics—from the interaction with explorers and settlers to governments, laws, and activists—range broadly enough to pique interest in many quarters. While some scholars may question the omission of notes and a bibliography, each chapter ends with a section on sources discussing interdisciplinary evidence and various debates. A pleasantly surprising aspect of the authors' methodology is the placement between chapters of so-called “Native Spaces” sections, which offer vignettes about Indigenous peoples in big cities and other important places in order to supplement the history of missions, ranches, and reservations. These sections weave the past and present together in the authors' attempt to “resist the erasure of California Indians” (p. 9).Many stories of violence, adaptation, and resistance emerge from the chapters and these “Native Spaces” sections. For example, the region around Yuma witnessed the Quechan fight over control of the Colorado and Gila River crossings against the Spanish and American conquests in 1781 and 1851, respectively; more recently established in the region were the Cocopah Casino, a hospital, and the Ten Tribes Partnership, which, by retaining possession of significant water rights to the Colorado River, makes Indigenous people “vital and powerful stakeholders” amid the dominance of agricultural, military, and transportation industries (p. 35). Other spaces have captured national headlines, such as Ishi Wilderness, established by the federal government in 1984. The wilderness area is near the town of Paradise, California, infamously destroyed in the 2018 Camp Fire—just the type of destructive wildfire that Native practices of burning, pruning, and harvesting, ignored under the 1964 Wilderness Act, would have helped to prevent. The authors point out that settlers who in the 1840s entered this area, which became known as the Lassen foothills, imagined it as a space that required conquering Indigenous peoples; by the twentieth century, convinced of their success, these settlers “grew nostalgic for an imagined past that could act as a prophylactic against the ills of the modern, urban world” (p. 195). Yet for the Native peoples this was not a wilderness; it was their land. These and many other accounts demonstrate how the public, politicians, and scholars would be better informed and have a greater understanding and appreciation of the natural environment if they were familiar with stories by Indigenous peoples.Indeed, this book's audience is not just other historians but the general public, though it would work well among college students. The authors intermittently refer to the history of Native California as one of genocide but also of resistance, perseverance, and survival in the present. Moreover, as they insightfully show, Indigenous peoples saw uplift in their own way, desiring “to take greater control over their lives, to live as both Indian and American” (p. 228). The authors' organization of the book and writing style are refreshing and make for a clear narrative that flows from start to finish. Anyone interested in the history of Indigenous peoples will wish to read and enjoy it.