The escalating political, economic, and cultural colonization of indigenous peoples over the past few centuries has spawned a multitude of revitalization movements. These movements promise liberation from domination by outsiders and incorporate and rework elements of traditional culture. Reassessing Revitalization Movements is the first book to discuss and compare in detail the origins, structure, and development of religious and political revitalization movements in North America and the Pacific Islands (known as Oceania). The essays cover the twentieth-century Cargo Cults of the South Pacific, the 1870 and 1890 Ghost Dance movements in western North America, the Tuka Movement on Fiji in 1885, as well as the revitalistic aspects of contemporary social movements in North American and Oceania. Reassessing Revitalization Movements takes Anthony F. C. Wallace?s concept of revitalization movements and examines the applicability of the model to a variety of religious and anticolonial movements in North America and the Pacific Islands. This extension of the revitalization movement model beyond its traditional territory in Native anthropology enriches our understanding of movements outside of North America and offers a holistic view of them that embraces phenomena ranging from the psychic to the ecological. This cross-cultural approach provides the most stimulating and broadly applicable treatment of the topic in decades.

Saints and Citizens is a bold new excavation of the history of Indigenous people in California in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, showing how the missions became sites of their authority, memory, and identity. Shining a forensic eye on colonial encounters in Chumash, Luiseño, and Yokuts territories, Lisbeth Haas depicts how native painters incorporated their cultural iconography in mission painting and how leaders harnessed new knowledge for control in other ways. Through her portrayal of highly varied societies, she explores the politics of Indigenous citizenship in the independent Mexican nation through events such as the Chumash War of 1824, native emancipation after 1826, and the political pursuit of Indigenous rights and land through 1848.

A history that is equal parts science and mythology, Sacred Sites offers a rare and poetic vision of a world composed of dynamic natural forces and mythic characters. The result is a singular and memorable account of the evolution of the Southern California landscape, reflecting the riches of both Native knowledge and Western scientific thought. Beginning with Western science, poet Susan Suntree carries readers from the Big Bang to the present as she describes the origins of the universe, the shifting of tectonic plates, and an evolving array of plants and animals that give Southern California its unique features today. She tells of the migration of humans into the region, where they settled, and how they lived. Complementing this narrative and reflecting Native peoples' view of their own history and way of life, Suntree recounts the creation myths and songs that tell the story of the First People and of unforgettable shamans and heroes. Featuring contemporary photographs of rarely seen landmarks along with meticulous research, Sacred Sites provides unusual insight into how natural history and mythology and scientific and intuitive thinking combine to create an ever-deepening sense of a place and its people.

"It got me thinking about the hundreds of years of Newport Beach history. It made me excited about from where they came. Hail Chinigchinich!" --Tom Johnson, former publisher of the Daily Pilot and Newport Beach Independent "Reading this epic is like riding in a time machine from the first Indians in the area through the Spanish, Mexican and American settlements in the 20th Century. Through a series of short stories, Davis weaves his opus with suspense, conflict, humor, romance, heroes, betrayal, murder and hope. It reads like a TV mini-series because of his vivid, descriptive, often conversational and colorful writing." --Chris MacDonald, seecalifornia.com "Old-time fans of "Dallas" or "Dynasty" will appreciate how the stories of family betrayal, illegitimacy and murder are played out here in our own community." -Keith Curry, Former Mayor of Newport Beach, CA "James Michener, move over!" --John Tobin, Western Australia

Chinigchinich is an ethnographic account of the culture and religious beliefs of the native Californians in the vicinity of the famous mission San Juan Capistrano. Boscana was a bigot and a racist (he describes the Indians as being like monkeys). However, he lived among them for decades and obviously had an inquisitive mind and a talent for observation. While he condemns the practices and beliefs of the indigenous people, he describes them in great detail. Barring a time machine, this is the only first-hand account of mission-era Juaneños we will ever have. This translation of Boscana was the first book ever published by an American about California; it is extremely rare.