Critical Mission Studies

Over 100,000 Indigenous ancestors died untimely and violent deaths under the California mission system. Critical Mission Studies interrogates the difficult history of the Spanish Catholic missions and their legacy in the present by centering California Indigenous perspectives. In this volume, the survivors of the mission system speak. Native scholars, California tribal elders and leaders, and allied researchers examine conventional Mission Studies scholarship and its relationship with California’s Spanish “fantasy heritage” and romantic mission myths. This book corrects the erasure from public imagination of the California Indian experience under the missions and documents a process of resistance, survivance, recovery, and healing.

The California Mission Studies Editorial Collective is composed of University of California faculty and California Indian research partners, including tribal leaders. The collaborative editorial structure reflects partnership between the UC and diverse California Indian tribal nations and peoples who have been impacted by the history of the missions.