Taking Stock of Indian Ranching
By: Kimberly
Hedrick, doctoral candidate in the Department of Anthropology
(MA University of California, Riverside 2003)
All color photographs were taken by Joshua Hedrick.
All black and white photographs were historical images
from the Costo collection.
|
 |
Acknowledgements:
This web article emerged from historical research done on
the participation of Native Californians in the cattle industry,
conducted with the support of the American Indian Studies
program at University of California Riverside and the Soboba
band of Luiseño Indians. I would particularly like
to thank Bob Keller and Charlene Ryan from Cham-Mix Poki’,
the cultural house of the Soboba reservation. Yawáywichum
‘omóm (y’all are beautiful)…
Contents
The Representation of the West
The American West has long been
a fascinating, almost mythical, part of American heritage and
history. The open plains, rugged mountains, and vast deserts
of the arid range lands are the landscape of cattle ranching
and all it embodies for many Americans: open space, rugged individuality,
the importance of community. Yet for many, the history of the
American West lacks its true depth of complexity. Our understanding
of ranching and the West has been informed by movies and coffee-table
books, and from a young age we are taught about cowboys and
Indians, antithetical characters in that simplistic and stereotypical
version of American history.
Cowboys and Indians
In reality, the history of the
American West and ranching is far more diverse. The American
West has been influenced by far more than the Anglo male cowboy;
ranching culture and history is a product of men and women of
many ethnicities. As ranching economy and culture spread across
the West, it encountered various American Indian tribes that
already lived on the land. Many Indians adopted ranching, incorporating
sheep, cattle, and horses into their economies and cultures.
In so doing, they created their own history and contributed
to the history of the American West and specifically to ranching.
American Indians were involved in ranching in a number of ways:
on missions, as cowboys, and as ranchers. Furthermore, they
contributed to the history and culture of rodeo. American Indians
were not antithetical to cowboys, many were cowboys.
This website explores the history of California Indian ranching
and rodeo and explores the local history of ranching among the
Cahuilla and Luiseño
through photographs, historical accounts, and stories.
The Importance of Diversity in History
It is important that American
history acknowledge its diversity; the heritage of the West
originates in many peoples. However, ethnic minorities such
as American Indians have often been overlooked in popular cultural
materials (films, books, magazines) and even in academic works.
As long as the West is portrayed as a battlefield of two antagonistic
cultures (cowboys and Indians), we can never understand the
true history of the West as a much more dynamic process of cultural
interaction. When we fail to acknowledge Indian ranching, cowboys,
and rodeo we also ignore the importance of these economies and
cultures to Indian communities’ histories and contemporary
cultures. And as long as we portray the cowboy as a stereotypical
Anglo male, we ignore the identities of many people who were
both cowboy and Indian. It is important to acknowledge the contributions
of American Indians to the history of ranching and to explore
the rich legacy of Indian cowboys.
Next Page
- Menu
|
