In her 2024 book, “Unrecognized in California: Federal Acknowledgement and the San Luis Rey Band of Mission Indians,” tribal member and professor Olivia Chilcote traces the history of her tribal community’s ongoing push to formal government recognition.
“One value my mom raised me with is that I have an obligation and duty to be of service to my tribe,” Chilcote says. “I wrote my book as a way to provide an essential resource for my tribe that details our history as a distinct Luiseño band, the dispossession of our village along the San Luis Rey River, and the way that our historical circumstances shaped our contemporary status as a tribe without formal federal recognition from the United States government.”
There are 109 federally recognized tribes in California and the process for federal recognition involves meeting specific criteria, going through a review process, and submitting evidence of historical records, maps, oral histories, and genealogical documentation. It’s filled with both arduous requirements and also results in some necessary benefits, held within a history of violence and destruction of Indigenous communities.
Chilcote, 35, lives in Vista and is an associate professor of American Indian studies at San Diego State University. At 2:30 p.m. today at the Mission Hills Library, she’ll discuss her book as part of programming focused on ethnic studies and inviting people from the community to learn about histories of oppression and systemic racism. She took some time to talk about her book, her community, and her interest in ethnic studies.
Q: What did you grow up hearing, or learning, about federal tribal recognition (and whether it was seen as useful or necessary)?
A: As a girl, the tribal council regularly met at my dining room table because we did not have any land. I always heard about federal recognition as one of the top priorities of the tribe and how our leadership and community has wanted to attain a government-to-government relationship with the U.S. Federal recognition is a pervasive topic in our community because of the status and what it entails for tribes.
Q: Can you talk about what comes up in conversations about how the identity and recognition of Indigenous groups is being determined by a government with a history of violence and oppression against these same groups of people?
A: It’s something we are all well aware of, that we are put in an impossible situation to seek acknowledgment of our existence as a self-governing community from the very government that caused the situation to begin with. We don’t seek federal recognition for the government to tell us who we are. We know who we are because of our connection to our ancestors and the oral histories ed down in our families. We are forced to work within the settler colonial structures and legal framework of the United States to meet the needs of our communities. Today, the government-to-government relationship between tribes and the U.S. is one way that tribes can practice self-determination.
What I love about Vista…
I love the deep history that my family and tribal community has in Vista. My great-great-great-great grandmother was a servant at Rancho Buena Vista Adobe and sadly ed away there. Her daughter, my great-great-great grandmother, was born under a peppertree in the Vista/Oceanside/Carlsbad convergence near El Salto Falls at the Marron Adobe. It feels significant for me that I was raised in Vista and maintain a connection to my family history in a very place-based way.
Q: What’s different about trying to obtain federal tribal recognition as a tribe in California?
A: Every tribe’s path to federal recognition is uniquely situated in histories of land dispossession and the violence of settler colonialism. I think for tribes in California, the waves of colonization from the Spanish missions to the genocide perpetrated by the U.S. and the state of California makes it especially difficult for tribes here to prove governmental and community continuity when colonial governments did everything in their power to eradicate our cultures, governing systems, connection to lands, and relationships with each other.
Q: Did writing “Unrecognized in California” add anything to your point of view about this history and the process of recognition? (Did it change your point of view? Deepen your understanding? Did it shift your perspective in any way, or further affirm what you already believed? Etc.)
A: Writing my book gave me a greater appreciation for all of the work that people in my community, both contemporarily and in the past, have done to maintain our existence as a self-governing tribe. The ongoing struggle for what we today call federal recognition is something that generation after generation has sought to formalize with the federal government.
Q: The library program encourages people to “share their lived experiences for personal and community empowerment.” How do you see sharing these experiences with people in other communities as an avenue toward empowering everyone involved?
A: I think there is a lot of misinformation and misconceptions circulating in the general public about Native Americans and tribal politics. Most non-Native people likely don’t even realize there are differing legal statuses amongst tribes in the United States, so I believe that bringing awareness to the particular set of issues unrecognized tribes and tribal people face is a step toward social justice and solidarity.
Q: What drew you to ethnic studies and women’s studies in your education and research?
A: I enrolled in an introductory ethnic and women’s studies course at Cal Poly Pomona to fulfill a general education requirement and it completely changed my perspective on dominant society. The class revealed so much about the social construction of race and gender that I had never been fully exposed to previously in my education. That class inspired me to take more ethnic and women’s studies courses, and I eventually decided to change my major and pursue my degree emphasis in Native American studies. Even though I grew up very involved in my tribe, my personal experience only goes so far. I am so appreciative of the way that being a Native American studies scholar enables me to dig deeper into the politics and history of Native Americans in the U.S. for educational and community-based purposes.
Q: What’s been rewarding about your work?
A: The most rewarding part of this work is being able to give back to my tribe. I wrote this book for my community to have a resource about our history, our struggles, and our perseverance as a tribe. To see the positive response from the tribe has been fulfilling.
Q: What has this work taught you about yourself?
A: This work has taught me that there’s so much more work to be done. This is only the tip of the proverbial iceberg when it comes to researching and narrating my tribe’s history and our impact within San Diego County and the state of California.
Q: What is the best advice you’ve ever received?
A: One of my mentors has told me that successful Native American women often get targeted and harassed, but the best path forward is to do what we can to continue to excel and succeed in our careers.
Q: What is one thing people would be surprised to find out about you?
A: In 2008, I won a free VIP ticket for life to the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.
Q: Please describe your ideal San Diego weekend.
A: Checking out all of the amazing playgrounds with my son by day, and searching out the best spots for dancing under a disco ball by night.
