What is it about?
When people passionately desire a new ethnic identity, they may leap to conclusions about historical evidence that fits their desires. The descendants of a Santa Barbara, California man named Baltazar justified their claims of being Chumash based on their assumption their ancestor was a documented Chumash man by that name. But there were three men named Baltazar at the time, and their ancestor was not the Chumash man. The article untangles the case.
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Why is it important?
The article illustrates one of the ways that self-indigenization of identity is rationalized by those involved.
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: The Case of the Three Baltazars: Indigenization and the Vicissitudes of the Written Word, Southern California Quarterly, December 2005, University of California Press,
DOI: 10.2307/41172285.
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