How Spaniards Became Chumash and Other Tales of Ethnogenesis

What is it about?

The article details how the neo-Chumash community of California's Central Coast region emerged from their ancestral Spanish colonial community, and illustrates how that enthnogenesis was preceded by other instances of ethnic identity change in the history of these families.

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Why is it important?

The case illustrates how a "whole cloth" fabrication of identity by a group lacking any ancestral connection to their claimed identity is possible and can occur rapidly and with considerable success. The article also points to the conflicts and problems this ethnogenesis creates for actual Chumash communities.