Indigenous Politics of Survival & Resistance in Santa Cruz County

My book, We are not Animals, tells the history of Indigenous people of the Santa Cruz region throughout the 19^th century. By examining historical records and drawing on oral histories and the work of anthropologists, archaeologists, ecologists, and psychologists, this study sets answers questions regarding who the Indigenous people in the Santa Cruz region were and how they persevered through the 19^th century, a time of great violence and change. Between 1770 and 1900 linguistically and culturally diverse Ohlone and Yokuts tribes adapted to and expressed themselves through three distinct colonial encounters with Spain, Mexico, and the United States. This award-winning book traces tribal, familial, and kinship networks through the missions’ chancery registry records to reveal stories of individuals and families and shows how ethnic and tribal differences and politics shaped strategies of resistance and survival within the diverse population taken to Mission Santa Cruz.