Chapter Title: Indian Resistance to Missionization

Chapter Title: Indian Resistance to Missionization
Book Title: Converting California
Book Subtitle: Indians and Franciscans in the Missions
Book Author(s): JAMES A. SANDOS
Published by: Yale University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.com/stable/j.ctt1npf4h.14
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide
range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and
facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
https://about.jstor.org/terms
Yale University Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to
Converting California
This content downloaded from
128.111.121.42 on Wed, 19 Aug 2020 23:20:37 UTC
All use subject to http
154
10
Indian Resistance to Missionization
Resistance to authority, unless expressed in a bloody uprising, is often
subtle. In a colonial encounter the need for the colonizer to impose order,
usually in a new language, further obscures detection of opposition by the
colonized. Accounts of colonization from the perspective of native peoples are
frequently revealing. California Indians had no written language, yet Indian
views of their mission experiences have been preserved. One of these is the
only known example of a Native American’s written history of the missionization of his people in California. Pablo Tac, born at mission San Luis Rey and
educated there in Spanish by the Franciscans, was sent to Europe to further his
studies and to become a priest. He died young, but, at about age thirteen he
wrote an account of the arrival of the Spanish among his people, whom the
Europeans called Luiseños, and of the missionary activities of the Franciscan
priests known as Fernandinos.∞
Because his command of Spanish grammar was weak and because the
priests undoubtedly made him write the account, it would be easy to dismiss
Tac’s document as immature and reflecting only Christophilic Triumphalism.
This approach, however, would miss the evidence of resistance to Spanish
invasion that Tac included in his version of events. Describing the first contact
between a Fernandino and a chief of the Quechnajuichom, as Tac called his
people in his native tongue, the Indian declared in his dialect, ‘‘What is it you
This content downloaded from
128.111.121.42 on Wed, 19 Aug 2020 23:20:37 UTC
All use subject to http
Indian Resistance to Missionization 155
seek here? Get out of our country!’’ Tac concludes his narrative with an encounter between an armed Spanish soldier, seeking to restore order after participants in a ballgame between Luiseños and Indians from mission San Juan
Capistrano had become unruly, in which a Luiseño man challenges the Spaniard by saying, ‘‘Raise your saber and I will eat you.’’ Both of these encounters,
Tac tells us, are related in the original language of Quechla, his Indian territory, meaning that the Spanish could not understand them.≤
Tac’s account, however, is more revealing to our generation. Tac reflects a
Native American tradition of shifting to Indian language to convey an authentic feeling that cannot be expressed in the dominant language shared by Indian
and non-Indian groups.≥ Tac’s narrative discloses, albeit discreetly, the powerful opposition to the Spanish invasion Luiseños communicated both at initial
contact and in late mission times. In recounting daily life at the mission, he
also inserted a trickster tale involving a mission Indian boy who enters the
Fernandino’s forbidden garden to eat figs, is discovered by the Indian gardener, and then transforms himself into a raven, an enforcer of the moral code
of Chinigchinich, a Luiseño God.∂ Whatever else may have happened to Tac in
the course of his European education begun in California, continued in Mexico, and ended in Italy, where he wrote his history, he had lost neither his
Indian identity nor his sense of outrage at Spanish occupation. In this more
carefully controlled public tale of evangelization among the heathen, related
by a missionized Indian at the behest of the Franciscan missionaries, Tac’s
account manages to communicate neophyte resistance. Tac’s work, seemingly
telling one story while actually relating another, illustrates the difficulty in
analyzing Indian resistance in the missions.
Consider two other instances of Indian resistance. A thirty-five-year-old
unidentified Christian Indian at mission San Juan Capistrano (Juaneño), for
example, dying of a European disease, renounced his baptism and Christian
religion on his deathbed. Padre Gerónimo Boscana asked the neophyte to
confess his sins before meeting his God. ‘‘I will not,’’ replied the Indian. ‘‘If I
have been deceived whilst living,’’ he continued, ‘‘I do not wish to die in the
delusion!’’∑ To Boscana, this was the action of an apostate. In another example, during the Chumash uprising in 1824, an unnamed neophyte caught in a
chapel surrounded by armed Spaniards firing upon it spied a crucifix. Disregarding the Spanish-taught polite speech, the usted form, to be used by Indians
in addressing their superiors, including the Christian God, this neophyte used
the familiar tu form, and spoke to God on the crucifix as an equal. ‘‘Now I will
know if you are God Almighty as the padre says. Carrying you completely
hidden so that no one will see you, I am going alone to fight against all of the
soldiers. If they don’t kill me or shoot me, I will serve you well until I die.’’∏ The
This content downloaded from
128.111.121.42 on Wed, 19 Aug 2020 23:20:37 UTC
All use subject to http
156 Indian Resistance to Missionization
armed Indian concealed the crucifix under his shirt, then fled the church. Once
outside, he emptied his quiver at the soldiers and returned, walking at a normal pace, to the chapel. Despite the shots fired at him he remained untouched.
Afterward he fulfilled his vow, working as sacristan at the mission until he
died. This instance of Indian self-shaping occurred during the largest rebellion
in California mission history, one in which Indians from missions La Purísima,
Santa Inés, and Santa Barbara challenged Spanish and Franciscan authority.
This individual incident within the collective experience underscores the diversity of Indian resistance to the missions.
Over the past twenty years scholars have focused on overt Indian resistance to
the California missions but have had difficulty clarifying the more subtle forms
of resistance that undergirded overt violence.Ï€ This anomaly is perhaps due to
the tendency of recent mission critics to focus almost exclusively on the exploitation of the Indian at the expense of the Christianization and civilization
components of the Franciscan goal. Such a focus omits such stories as those of
Tac, the Juaneño, and the Chumash. To correct this anomaly, the original
intention of colonization must be recalled.
The Spanish sovereigns’ intentions toward the Indian were, as the dean
of borderlands historians wrote, ‘‘to convert him, to civilize [sic] him, and
to exploit him. . . . It was soon found that if the savage [sic] were to be
converted, or disciplined, or exploited, he must be put under control.’’∫ Hence
Indians became neophytes and worked at priestly assigned tasks. Some Indians did so through genuine transformation, but others did so grudgingly and
only temporarily.
Relationships between neophytes and gentiles, the unbaptized Indians still
in the wild, were always complex. These relationships changed over time
when new Indian groups became the targets of missionization as older groups
either became incorporated or died. Neophytes confronted two constellations
of conflicting motives, the desire to leave the mission and the desire to stay.
Reasons to leave included a longing to see and be with family and friends, to
live in the culture in which they had been reared, and to associate with people
of their own kind. Such motives intensified if gentile family or friends became
ill or if new people, not of the neophytes’ own kind, perhaps even their enemies, became incorporated into their mission. Sorrow and shock from the
deaths at the mission could impel neophytes to flee. Freedom in all its multiple
guises—freedom from abuse by Indian alcaldes (overseers), freedom from
priestly ordered punishment, freedom from forced social change, from new
ritual, from Europeanized ideas of work—served to increase the powerful
allure to return to previous ways.

Get Professional Assignment Help Cheaply

Are you busy and do not have time to handle your assignment? Are you scared that your paper will not make the grade? Do you have responsibilities that may hinder you from turning in your assignment on time? Are you tired and can barely handle your assignment? Are your grades inconsistent?

Whichever your reason is, it is valid! You can get professional academic help from our service at affordable rates. We have a team of professional academic writers who can handle all your assignments.

Why Choose Our Academic Writing Service?

• Plagiarism free papers
• Timely delivery
• Any deadline
• Skilled, Experienced Native English Writers
• Subject-relevant academic writer
• Adherence to paper instructions
• Ability to tackle bulk assignments
• Reasonable prices
• 24/7 Customer Support
• Get superb grades consistently

Online Academic Help With Different Subjects

Literature

Students barely have time to read. We got you! Have your literature essay or book review written without having the hassle of reading the book. You can get your literature paper custom-written for you by our literature specialists.

Finance

Do you struggle with finance? No need to torture yourself if finance is not your cup of tea. You can order your finance paper from our academic writing service and get 100% original work from competent finance experts.

Computer science

Computer science is a tough subject. Fortunately, our computer science experts are up to the match. No need to stress and have sleepless nights. Our academic writers will tackle all your computer science assignments and deliver them on time. Let us handle all your python, java, ruby, JavaScript, php , C+ assignments!

Psychology

While psychology may be an interesting subject, you may lack sufficient time to handle your assignments. Don’t despair; by using our academic writing service, you can be assured of perfect grades. Moreover, your grades will be consistent.

Engineering

Engineering is quite a demanding subject. Students face a lot of pressure and barely have enough time to do what they love to do. Our academic writing service got you covered! Our engineering specialists follow the paper instructions and ensure timely delivery of the paper.

Nursing

In the nursing course, you may have difficulties with literature reviews, annotated bibliographies, critical essays, and other assignments. Our nursing assignment writers will offer you professional nursing paper help at low prices.

Sociology

Truth be told, sociology papers can be quite exhausting. Our academic writing service relieves you of fatigue, pressure, and stress. You can relax and have peace of mind as our academic writers handle your sociology assignment.

Business

We take pride in having some of the best business writers in the industry. Our business writers have a lot of experience in the field. They are reliable, and you can be assured of a high-grade paper. They are able to handle business papers of any subject, length, deadline, and difficulty!

Statistics

We boast of having some of the most experienced statistics experts in the industry. Our statistics experts have diverse skills, expertise, and knowledge to handle any kind of assignment. They have access to all kinds of software to get your assignment done.

Law

Writing a law essay may prove to be an insurmountable obstacle, especially when you need to know the peculiarities of the legislative framework. Take advantage of our top-notch law specialists and get superb grades and 100% satisfaction.

What discipline/subjects do you deal in?

We have highlighted some of the most popular subjects we handle above. Those are just a tip of the iceberg. We deal in all academic disciplines since our writers are as diverse. They have been drawn from across all disciplines, and orders are assigned to those writers believed to be the best in the field. In a nutshell, there is no task we cannot handle; all you need to do is place your order with us. As long as your instructions are clear, just trust we shall deliver irrespective of the discipline.

Are your writers competent enough to handle my paper?

Our essay writers are graduates with bachelor's, masters, Ph.D., and doctorate degrees in various subjects. The minimum requirement to be an essay writer with our essay writing service is to have a college degree. All our academic writers have a minimum of two years of academic writing. We have a stringent recruitment process to ensure that we get only the most competent essay writers in the industry. We also ensure that the writers are handsomely compensated for their value. The majority of our writers are native English speakers. As such, the fluency of language and grammar is impeccable.

What if I don’t like the paper?

There is a very low likelihood that you won’t like the paper.

Reasons being:

• When assigning your order, we match the paper’s discipline with the writer’s field/specialization. Since all our writers are graduates, we match the paper’s subject with the field the writer studied. For instance, if it’s a nursing paper, only a nursing graduate and writer will handle it. Furthermore, all our writers have academic writing experience and top-notch research skills.
• We have a quality assurance that reviews the paper before it gets to you. As such, we ensure that you get a paper that meets the required standard and will most definitely make the grade.

In the event that you don’t like your paper:

• The writer will revise the paper up to your pleasing. You have unlimited revisions. You simply need to highlight what specifically you don’t like about the paper, and the writer will make the amendments. The paper will be revised until you are satisfied. Revisions are free of charge
• We will have a different writer write the paper from scratch.
• Last resort, if the above does not work, we will refund your money.

Will the professor find out I didn’t write the paper myself?

Not at all. All papers are written from scratch. There is no way your tutor or instructor will realize that you did not write the paper yourself. In fact, we recommend using our assignment help services for consistent results.

What if the paper is plagiarized?

We check all papers for plagiarism before we submit them. We use powerful plagiarism checking software such as SafeAssign, LopesWrite, and Turnitin. We also upload the plagiarism report so that you can review it. We understand that plagiarism is academic suicide. We would not take the risk of submitting plagiarized work and jeopardize your academic journey. Furthermore, we do not sell or use prewritten papers, and each paper is written from scratch.

When will I get my paper?

You determine when you get the paper by setting the deadline when placing the order. All papers are delivered within the deadline. We are well aware that we operate in a time-sensitive industry. As such, we have laid out strategies to ensure that the client receives the paper on time and they never miss the deadline. We understand that papers that are submitted late have some points deducted. We do not want you to miss any points due to late submission. We work on beating deadlines by huge margins in order to ensure that you have ample time to review the paper before you submit it.

Will anyone find out that I used your services?

We have a privacy and confidentiality policy that guides our work. We NEVER share any customer information with third parties. Noone will ever know that you used our assignment help services. It’s only between you and us. We are bound by our policies to protect the customer’s identity and information. All your information, such as your names, phone number, email, order information, and so on, are protected. We have robust security systems that ensure that your data is protected. Hacking our systems is close to impossible, and it has never happened.

How our Assignment Help Service Works

1. Place an order

You fill all the paper instructions in the order form. Make sure you include all the helpful materials so that our academic writers can deliver the perfect paper. It will also help to eliminate unnecessary revisions.

2. Pay for the order

Proceed to pay for the paper so that it can be assigned to one of our expert academic writers. The paper subject is matched with the writer’s area of specialization.

3. Track the progress

You communicate with the writer and know about the progress of the paper. The client can ask the writer for drafts of the paper. The client can upload extra material and include additional instructions from the lecturer. Receive a paper.

4. Download the paper

The paper is sent to your email and uploaded to your personal account. You also get a plagiarism report attached to your paper.

GET A PERFECT SCORE!!!