From "Nation" to "Indio" and "Español": Transitions in Indigenous Culture in the Missions of San Antonio

Summary

The Spanish colonial advance into Texas during the late 17th century resulted in the establishment of several missions to house members of dozens of indigenous groups and a handful of presidios to protect the missions from raiding bands of Comanches and Apaches. The Padres that were in charge of the missions enforced systematic policies and procedures to affect change in the identity of the resident indigenous nations. The policies and procedures specifically targeted religious believes, language, dress, and daily practice to re-shape the identity of the neophytes. To a large extent, elements of the indigenous material culture were not targeted for change. Descriptions of the behavior, appearance, and language-use of indigenous groups living in the missions depict a de-emphasis on one’s own group identity in favor of the demographically dominant indigenous groups in each mission. Over time, indigenous leaders and children come to undertake the most rapid change to the Spanish cultural norms. The material culture reflects few of these rapid and dramatic changes in the identity of the mission Indians. This paper explores these processed of identity change, their reflection in the written record, and how and why some aspects of material culture remained a signature of Indigenous identity.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 20388