FIRST CALIFORNIANS
By Matthew Kolb
ANTH 100: Non-Western Cultures and the Western Tradition
Instructor: Steven R. James
April 23, 2014
INTRODUCTION
The Bowers Museum is located in the heart of Downtown Santa Ana at 2002 N. Main Street. The mission of the museum is to “enrich lives through the worlds finest arts and cultures.” It is named after Orange County land developer Charles Bowers, who donated the land after his death. The museum was founded in 1936 by the city of Santa Ana. The mission style building and surrounding accommodations have expanded six times the original size to nearly 100,000 square feet. Today, the museum is host to a wide variety of events and exhibits. They also offer lectures, events, and child’s programs. Current installations include: Animal Mummies, Beethoven, and The Lure of Chinatown. The museum also houses permanent displays that encapsulate the historical significance of pre-modern California cultures. These include; California: The Golden years, California Legacies: Missions and Ranchos, and First Californians. Overall the Bowers museum provides a wonderful display of art and culture from various cultures around the world.
MUSEUM EXHIBIT
1) Artifact Display
The display that I will be focusing my research on is called First Californians. The display encompasses many of the different artifacts pertaining to the first Native Americans of California. All artifacts are displayed behind glass cases with brief description of how the items were used. Artifacts from many tribes are displayed. However, the two most prominent tribes displayed are the Chumash Natives of the Northern Channel Islands and the Gabreilino (Tongva) natives of modern day LA and Orange County Regions. In the center of the room lay...
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...humash houses were hemispherical in shape and as large as 55 feet in diameter. They were constructed of arched poles covered with grass. Typically several families within the tribe shared one dwelling. Members slept on raised beds separated by hanging mats to offer privacy. Mats were also used as doors to keep the dwelling separated from the outside elements. A fireplace was present in the center of the structure to provide heat while a circular vent in the ceiling allowed for the smoke to escape. The houses were arranged clustered together in the village to provide for security and community. Shelter was a vital part of Chumash survival. They provided shelter from the elements as well as a sense of unity within the village.
Village Lifeway
World View
Euro-American Contact and Consequences
Europeans first contacted the Chumash in 1542 AD (Island Chumash P. 1).
When Spaniards colonized California, they invaded the native Indians with foreign worldviews, weapons, and diseases. The distinct regional culture that resulted from this union in turn found itself invaded by Anglo-Americans with their peculiar social, legal, and economic ideals. Claiming that differences among these cultures could not be reconciled, Douglas Monroy traces the historical interaction among them in Thrown Among Strangers: The Making of Mexican Culture in Frontier California. Beginning with the missions and ending in the late 1800s, he employs relations of production and labor demands as a framework to explain the domination of some groups and the decay of others and concludes with the notion that ?California would have been, and would be today, a different place indeed if people had done more of their own work.?(276) While this supposition may be true, its economic determinism undermines other important factors on which he eloquently elaborates, such as religion and law. Ironically, in his description of native Californian culture, Monroy becomes victim of the same creation of the ?other? for which he chastises Spanish and Anglo cultures. His unconvincing arguments about Indian life and his reductive adherence to labor analysis ultimately detract from his work; however, he successfully provokes the reader to explore the complexities and contradictions of a particular historical era.
The Makah lived in long houses. The houses were made out of cedar wood strips. The homes were usually permanent. The houses were group homes so more than one family lived in a home. The outside would normally have a totem pole outside the front of the house. These were poles with faces of animals on them and they told the history of the family. On the insi...
Calloway, C. G. (2012). First peoples A documentary survey of American Indian history (4th ed.). Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin’s.
“California is a story. California is many stories.” But whose story is heard? What stories are forgotten? In the memoir, Bad Indians, Native American writer and poet Deborah A. Miranda constructs meaning about the untold experiences of indigenous people under the colonial period of American history. Her memoir disrupts a “coherent narrative” and takes us on a detour that deviates from the alleged facts presented in our high school history books. Despite her emphasis on the brutalization of the Indigenous people in California during the colonization period, Miranda’s use of the Christian Novena, “Novena to Bad Indians,” illustrates an ‘absurd’ ironic stance amidst cruelty and violence. The elocution of the Novena itself, and the Christian
Castillo, Edward D. “Short Overview of California Indian History.” California Native Americans Heritage Commission. April 12, 2012.
People have been living in America for countless years, even before Europeans had discovered and populated it. These people, named Native Americans or American Indians, have a unique and singular culture and lifestyle unlike any other. Native Americans were divided into several groups or tribes. Each one tribe developed an own language, housing, clothing, and other cultural aspects. As we take a look into their society’s customs we can learn additional information about the lives of these indigenous people of the United States.
Early Puebloan peoples moved into the Salinas Valley around the A.D. 1200s, and based on artifacts found at the site, began living ...
Navajo, Copy of Spanish Cape as earrings, Charles W. Bowers Memorial Museum, Santa Ana, California
Each village had a town square at its center with seats where spectators could sit.The town square was used for ceremonies and games. Each village had a circular town house with clay walls and a cone shaped bark roof about 25 feet high. This was a ceremonial lodge and was also used for shelter for the homeless. Some town houses were smaller with a slanted bark roof only about 10 feet high. The most common house had a slanted bark roof with the roof about 7 feet high these were used for individual families, it held about, four to five people in it.. Each family had a summer and winter house both were packed with mud. The summer house was often used as a guest house for when visitors came to visit. They also owned their own granary which was half open and they also had a warehouse which was open on all four sides similar to a chickee.
The lives of Native Americans from as early as 800 B.C.E. in present-day Mexico and Central America depended heavily on the knowledge and technology passed down from previous tribes. The impact this has had on developing Mesoamerican societies can be seen in records of their history. Having the way of life of a tribe documented can help prove the significance of these accomplishments.
One of the first exhibits visited was The Story of North Carolina: An Indian House that covered the history of the American Indians. It was learned that almost 400 years ago the English settled on Roanoke Island and found many Native American living on the coast. These Native Americans spoke three language groups, the Siouan, Iroquoian, and Algonquian. The Indians did not have a writing system, so many of their stories were told on oral traditions. The museum displayed the home of typical American Indian Piedmont Siouan tepee. We got to go inside this home, and watch a short video about the history of the Indians founded in North Carolina. There were artifacts on the farming tools use by the ...
"Native American Youth 101." Aspen Institue. Aspen Institues, 24 July 11. Web. 8 Apr. 2014.
...due to the external forces such as other settlers e.g. the Navajos, new settlers along with the Spanish conquerors entered their world. As a result the Pueblo Indians were imposed by these external forces especially through military power that changed their ways completely; having minimal cultural practices of their ancestors before them. The museum may seem like it’s very limited to what’s on exhibit mostly because not all of the building is in use. However the few exhibits they have is substantial in sparking an interest or even beginning to understand the cultures of Native Americans.
History plays a very important role in the development of art and architecture. Over time people, events, and religion, have contributed to the evolution of art. Christianity has become a very common and well established religion, however, in the past it was hidden and a few people would worship this religion secretly. Gradually, Christianity became a growing religion and it attracted many converts from different social statuses. Christian art was highly influenced by the Greco-Romans, but it was immensely impacted by the establishment of the Edict of Milan in the year 313 AD. The Edict of Milan was so significant that scholars divide Christian art into two time periods, time before and after the Edict of Milan of 313.
When first arriving at the museum it was an old styled, rustic, building that was not very modern, which I think fits into the theme of the museum. The outside of the building had history, similar to how the inside of museum is filled with a history. There was also an impressive statue of former president Theodore Roosevelt. I thought it was an interesting display, but Theodore Roosevelt was an advocate for the preservation of national parks and the conservation of animals, moreover, I thought it was a great tribute to him. I think the outside of the museum shows how rich the history of the world is and there is so much to learn. The past has been polished for the people of the present to understand and admire. Overall, I felt every exhibit was easy to understand and not intimidating; subsequently, it was easy for children and adults to look at.