A Chemehuevi Song: The Resilience of a Southern Paiute Tribe

by Clifford E. Trafzer, Larry Myers (Foreword by)

Overview

The Chemehuevi of the Twenty-Nine Palms tribe of Southern California stands as a testament to the power of perseverance. This small, nomadic band of Southern Paiute Indians has been repeatedly marginalized by European settlers, other Native groups, and, until now, historical narratives that have all too often overlooked them.

Having survived much of the past two centuries without rights to their homeland or any self-governing abilities, the Chemehuevi were a mostly “forgotten” people until the creation of the Twenty-Nine Palms Reservation in 1974. Since then, they have formed a tribal government that addresses many of the same challenges faced by other tribes, including preserving cultural identity and managing a thriving gaming industry.

A dedicated historian who worked closely with the Chemehuevi for more than a decade, Clifford Trafzer shows how this once-splintered tribe persevered using sacred songs and other cultural practices to maintain tribal identity during the long period when it lacked both a homeland and autonomy. The Chemehuevi believe that their history and their ancestors are always present, and Trafzer honors that belief through his emphasis on individual and family stories. In doing so, he not only sheds light on an overlooked tribe but also presents an important new model for tribal history scholarship.

A Chemehuevi Song strikes the difficult balance of placing a community-driven research agenda within the latest currents of indigenous studies scholarship. Chemehuevi voices, both past and present, are used to narrate the story of the tribe’s tireless efforts to gain recognition and autonomy. The end result is a song of resilience.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780295742762
Publisher:	University of Washington Press
Publication date:	03/01/2018
Series:	Indigenous Confluences
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	328
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.70(h) x 1.00(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Clifford E. Trafzer is Distinguished Professor of History and Costo Chair of American Indian Affairs at University of California, Riverside. He is the author of several books, including Renegade Tribe: The Palouse Indians and the Invasion of the Inland Pacific Northwest and Death Stalks the Yakama: Epidemiological Transitions and Death on the Yakama Indian Reservation, 1888–1964; and coeditor of The Indian School on Magnolia Avenue: Voices and Images from Sherman Institute.

Table of Contents

Foreword

Preface and Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. The Chemehuevi Way

2. Invading and Defaming the Chemehuevi

3. War, Resistance, and Survival

4. The Chemehuevi at Twenty-Nine Palms

5. Unvanished Americans

6. Willie, Williams, and Carlota

7. Cultural Preservations, Ethnogenesis, and Revitalization

Glossary

Notes

Bibliography

Index

What People are Saying About This

Jeffrey P. Shepherd

"Trafzer should be congratulated for his nuanced rendering of Chemehuevi history, which stems from his longstanding relationship with the tribe . . . I wholeheartedly recommend it for anyone interested in learning the 'true history' of California, the conquest of the U.S. West, and the survival of Native People in the Americas."

Peter Nabokov

"Like the versatile healing properties of Salt Songs themselves, this book remembers, honors, cures and I hope will foster a new generation of too-long-ignored culture histories from the panoply of southern California’s first nations. A stunning, exciting and intimate portrait orchestrated by a sensitive and wise scholar who lets the people and their places speak for themselves."

Donald L. Fixico

"Driven by oral history interviews and in-depth research, Clifford E. Trafzer, a senior indigenous scholar is at his best in masterly historicizing the Chemehuevi Way, connecting people and the past in rhythm with nature. This holistic approach is a luminous model for understanding the longue duree of native peoples."

George Phillips

"Through Trafzerʼs interviews with contemporary Chemehuevi, we understand why these people are still here, still maintaining a culture that by all the 'laws' of history should have disappeared decades ago."

Larry Myers

"A considerable achievement using extensive archival sources and the voices of Southern Paiute people that analyzes the sweep of Chemehuevi history. This is a significant contribution to indigenous studies and American history, a model for future works on American Indian people."

Interviews

A Chemehuevi Song provides the first analysis of Southern Paiute people known as Chemehuevi and that group of Chemehuevi from the Twenty-Nine Palms Oasis of California. The book examines change over time and the manner in which the distant past contributes to contemporary Chemehuevi people. Using several Native American voices and a plethora of original documents from the National Archives, libraries, museums, and tribal sources, A Chemehuevi Song illuminates the development of racialized views of Southern Paiute. The volume offers an account of the Chemehuevi-Mojave War and the exile of a band of Chemehuevi from the Colorado River in the 1860s. This group of Chemehuevi moved to the Oasis of Mara where they settled and farmed in a Serrano Indian village, living peacefully until Willie Boy and Carlota Mike broke tribal incest laws, leading to the death and removal of Chemehuevi from Twenty-Nine Palms to the Cabazon Reservation in the Coachella Valley. On Cabazon, Chemehuevi learned cultural ways of Cahuilla, continuing an ancient process of learning from and intermarrying with other Native Americans. During the twentieth century, Chemehuevi leaders joined the Mission Indian Federation in fighting the Wheeler-Howard Act, and only one Chemehuevi took an allotment. Chemehuevi refused to remain on the Cabazon Reservation, residing in nearby towns. In 1974, an act of congress and signature of President Gerald Ford created the Twenty-Nine Palms Reservation east of Palm Springs. The Chemehuevi reorganized a formal tribal government that has survived and thrived as a result of gaming. The people have used revenues from Spotlight 29 Casino to support land acquisition and the Native American Land Conservancy that buys and protects cultural lands. A Chemehuevi Song is an account of survival, sovereignty, and solemn obligations to care for their community while living within an ever-changing and challenging world, emerging as a modern tribal nation through adaptation and adherence to spiritual beliefs about the place of man within the natural world of California and the greater Southwest.

Editorial Reviews

"[A Chemehuevi Song] represents the highest level of academic and community collaboration. . . [It] is the embodiment of an intellectual and cultural relationship that combines an astute analysis from the historian/ethnographer with a melody of rare tribal voices sharing the lived realities—both past and present—that Chemehuevi people experienced, survived, and relied upon to create the cultural resilience they are experiencing today."

Southern California Quarterly - Theresa L. Gregor

"Some academics are good scholars and a few are good storytellers. Clifford Trafzer is both. . . . Trafzer presents a nuanced view of the community's culture, especially their songs as methods of dealing with sorrow. . . . A Chemehuevi Song is a testament to their songs as metaphors for the Chemehuevi's adaptations to adversity and relative prosperity."

New Mexico Historical Review - Ronald L. Holt

A well-written and illustrated, carefully documented, masterful contribution to the overlapping fields of ethnohistory, ethnomusicology, Native American and American studies, myth, and folklore. Essential.

Choice

"A well-written and illustrated, carefully documented, masterful contribution to the overlapping fields of ethnohistory, ethnomusicology, Native American and American studies, myth, and folklore. Essential."—Choice

"[A Chemehuevi Song] represents the highest level of academic and community collaboration. . . [It] is the embodiment of an intellectual and cultural relationship that combines an astute analysis from the historian/ethnographer with a melody of rare tribal voices sharing the lived realities—both past and present—that Chemehuevi people experienced, survived, and relied upon to create the cultural resilience they are experiencing today."—Theresa L. Gregor, Southern California Quarterly

"The sound historical research, sources, and extensive employment of oral history interviews makes this account of the history and persistence of the Chemehuevi an impressive work."—William D. Rowley, Montana Magazine

"Trafzer's book is a wondrous portrayal. . . . Compelling historical discourse. . . . A Chemehuevi Song is a song, and a story, that we should all make time to hear."—David Martínez, The Journal of Arizona History

"Clifford E. Trafzer has produced a thorough history of the Chemehuevi people. . . . This work will appeal to a wide audience. It is certainly an important work for California Indian scholars. . . . This book is a song with a very clear message and chorus, and Trafzer makes very clear that the song continues."—Rebecca Bales, Western Historical Quarterly

"Some academics are good scholars and a few are good storytellers. Clifford Trafzer is both. . . . Trafzer presents a nuanced view of the community's culture, especially their songs as methods of dealing with sorrow. . . . A Chemehuevi Song is a testament to their songs as metaphors for the Chemehuevi's adaptations to adversity and relative prosperity."—Ronald L. Holt, New Mexico Historical Review

From the Publisher

"Clifford E. Trafzer has produced a thorough history of the Chemehuevi people. . . . This work will appeal to a wide audience. It is certainly an important work for California Indian scholars. . . . This book is a song with a very clear message and chorus, and Trafzer makes very clear that the song continues."

Western Historical Quarterly - Rebecca Bales

"The sound historical research, sources, and extensive employment of oral history interviews makes this account of the history and persistence of the Chemehuevi an impressive work."

Montana Magazine - William D. Rowley

Trafzer’s book is a wondrous portrayal. . . . Compelling historical discourse. . . . A Chemehuevi Song is a song, and a story, that we should all make time to hear.

The Journal of Arizona History - David Martínez

Trafzer’s book is a wondrous portrayal.... [C]ompelling historical discourse.... A Chemehuevi Song is a song, and a story, that we should all make time to hear.

David Martinez