An inside account of one Luiseño tribe's history and their efforts to be recognized by the United States
With the largest number of Native Americans as well as the most non-federally recognized tribes in the United States, the state of California is a key site for sovereignty struggles, including federal recognition. In Unrecognized in California, Olivia M. Chilcote, member of the San Luis Rey Band of Mission Indians of San Diego County, demonstrates how the state's colonial history is foundational to the ongoing crisis over tribal legal status. In the context of the history and experience of her tribal community, Chilcote traces the tensions and contradictions?but also the limits and opportunities'surrounding federal recognition for California Indians. Based on the author's experiences, interviews with tribal leaders, and hard-to-access archives, the book tells the story of the San Luis Rey Band's efforts to gain recognition through the Federal Acknowledgment Process.
The tribe's recognition movement originated in historic struggles against colonization and represents the most recent iteration of ongoing work to secure the tribe's rightful claims to land, resources, and respect. As Chilcote shows, the San Luis Rey Band successfully uses its inherent legal powers to maintain its community identity and self-determination while the tribe's Luiseño members endeavor to ensure that the tribe endures.
Perceptive and comprehensive, Unrecognized in California explores one tribe's confrontations with the federal government, the politics of Native American identity, and California's distinct crisis of tribal federal recognition.

Olivia Chilcote (Luiseño, San Luis Rey Band of Mission Indians) received her Ph.D. and M.A. in the Department of Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Berkeley and her B.A. in the Ethnic & Women's Studies Department at Cal Poly Pomona. She is assistant professor of American Indian Studies at San Diego State University. Her research and teaching focus on the areas of interdisciplinary Native American Studies, federal Indian law and policy, Native American identity, and Native California.

Olivia Chilcote's profile page

Coll Thrush is professor of history at the University of British Columbia. He is the author of two books: Native Seattle: Histories from the Crossing-Over Place (University of Washington Press, 2007), and Indigenous London: Native Travelers at the Heart of Empire (Yale, 2016). He is also the coeditor of Phantom Past, Indigenous Presence: Native Ghosts in North American Culture and History (University of Nebraska Press, 2011). He serves as a series editor for the University of Washington Press's Indigenous Confluences series.

Coll Thrush's profile page

Charlotte Coté is a professor in American Indian Studies at the University of Washington. She is the author of Spirits of Our Whaling Ancestors: Revitalizing Makah and Nuu-chah-nulth Traditions (University of Washington Press, 2010).

Charlotte Coté's profile page

"A powerful and essential contribution to the non-federally recognized California tribal perspective. . . . This book is wonderful, not just for the San Luis Rey Band of Mission Indians, but for all unrecognized tribes in California, Native communities, recognized tribes, and state and federal agencies that work with non-federally recognized tribes."

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