This book presents a thorough excavation of the history of the Indigenous inhabitants of California in the late 18th and 19th centuries and their interaction with the Spanish occupiers and Mexican society. Scholars, researchers, faculty, and general readers will gain greater understanding of colonial encounters in Chumash, Luiseno, and Yokuts territories where Lisbeth Haas reveals a highly Indigenous and differentiated colonial society driven by leaders and populations who harnessed knowledge in pursuit of control. She gives an in-depth portrayal of how native painters worked to incorporate their cultural iconography in colonial painting. Saints and Citizens then explores the politics of Indigenous citizenship in the independent Mexican nation through the Chumash War of 1824, emancipation from the missions after l826, and Indigenous claims to freedom and land through l848.

Lisbeth Haas is professor of history at UC Santa Cruz and author of Pablo Tac, Indigenous Scholar (California, 2011).