The Archaeology of Refuge and Recourse explores the dual practices of
refuge and recourse among Indigenous peoples of California. From the
eighteenth to the twentieth century, Indigenous Coast Miwok communities
in California persisted throughout multiple waves of colonial intrusion.
But to what ends?
Applying theories of place and landscape, social memory, and mobility to
the analysis of six archaeological sites, Tsim D. Schneider argues for a
new direction in the archaeology of colonialism. This book offers
insight about the critical and ongoing relationships Indigenous people
maintained to their homelands despite colonization and systematic
destruction of their cultural sites.
Schneider is a citizen of the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, the
sovereign and federally recognized tribe of Coast Miwok and Southern
Pomo people whose ancestral homelands and homewaters are the central
focus of The Archaeology of Refuge and Recourse. Viewing this colonial
narrative from an Indigenous perspective, Schneider focuses on the
nearly one quarter of Coast Miwok people who survived the missions and
created outlets within and beyond colonial settlements to resist and
endure colonialism.
Fleeing these colonial missions and other establishments and taking
refuge around the San Francisco Bay Area, Coast Miwok people sought to
protect their identities by remaining connected to culturally and
historically significant places. Mobility and a sense of place further
enabled Coast Miwok people to find recourse and make decisions about
their future through selective participation in colonial projects. In
this book, Tsim D. Schneider argues that these distancing and
familiarizing efforts contribute to the resilience of Coast Miwok
communities and a sense of relevance and belonging to stolen lands and
waters. Facing death, violence, and the pervading uncertainty of change,
Indigenous people of the Marin Peninsula balanced the pull and
persistence of place against the unknown possibilities of a dynamic
colonial landscape and the forward-thinking required to survive.
History, change, and the future can be read in the story of Coast Miwok
people.
