Prospects for understanding identity formation in culture contact situations in the Greater Los Angeles area

Summary

Culture contact situations are uniquely situated to address important questions on the nature of changing identities and identity formation in archaeology. One of the richest areas of cultural contacts west of the Mississippi is California. While much has been written about cultural contacts and identity formation in the Spanish Missions in the San Diego region and the Spanish Missions and Russian Forts in Northern California, the one area that has had little done is the region between San Diego and Santa Barbara, what is now the Greater Los Angeles Area. This paper will discuss what has been done in this region, and more importantly, present the potential research prospects for understanding identity formation in this part of Colonial California that has a rich and varied history. It will analyze the possibilities of understanding the Third Spaces created by those involved in such contacts. It will also address theoretical developments from other historical contexts and apply those to existing data from Los Angeles and the surrounding regions. Finally, this paper will open up the research potential for understanding different contexts of culture contacts and identity formations.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2014   •
• ‘O Brave New World’: Archaeologies of Changing Identities

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): SYM-19,07