Before American History: Nationalist Mythmaking and Indigenous Dispossession (original) (raw)
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As the twentieth century unfolded, American writers, critics, and boosters presented a narrative of the arid Southwest as an exotic place blessed with a romantic history that could inspire, captivate and renew the many new white citizens flocking to rapidly growing cities. The history of Spanish colonialism in the area became a precious and exclusive cultural and economic resource. This dissertation tells the story of the commemoration of the Spanish past from 1848 to 1940 in three Spanish towns that grew into prominent American cities: Tucson, Arizona; Albuquerque, New Mexico; and San Antonio, Texas. In chapters centered on space, historic preservation, Mexican folk ritual, and pageants, this work examines the stories told about the Spanish past in these cities and reveals how people of differing classes and ethnicities gave meaning to the places they lived and to the process of American annexation of the region. That meaning shaped individual and social identities as well as the flow of power between them. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS .
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Archaeology and the First Americans
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Archaeological analyses of the Pueblo Revolts have emphasized the agency of indigenous leaders in materializing a nativistic cultural revitalization movement. Evidence from refuge pueblos in the northern Rio Grande shows that leaders drew on pre-Hispanic traditions from a variety of culture groups, creating a hybrid religious practice which integrated diverse populations. Evidence that these same leaders were using Catholic ecclesiastical paraphernalia in traditional religious contexts, however, has been downplayed in archaeological discussions of Revolt-era nativism. This paper examines the contexts of these appropriations during and prior to the revolts, and elsewhere in the Spanish colonies. I argue that the multiple indexical properties of the particular objects which were appropriated lend them to reinterpretation as markers of indigenous autonomy, and that “nativism” is more appropriately defined as the consolidation of indigenous identity than the elimination of foreign influence.