Ethnic Studies at the Library: Unrecognized in California

We invite community members to learn about historic oppression and systemic racism and share their lived experiences for personal and community empowerment.

Please join Dr. Olivia Chilcote for a presentation on her new book, Unrecognized in California: Federal Acknowledgment and the San Luis Rey Band of Mission Indians. She will discuss how the San Luis Rey Band’s recognition movement originated in historic struggles against colonization and represents the most recent iteration of ongoing work to secure the tribe’s rightful claims to land, resources, and respect.

Olivia M. Chilcote (Luiseño/Payómkawichum, San Luis Rey Band of Mission Indians) received her Ph.D. and M.A. in the Department of Ethnic Studies at UC Berkeley and her B.A. in the Department of Ethnic & Women’s Studies at Cal Poly Pomona. She is currently an Associate Professor of American Indian Studies at San Diego State University. Her research and teaching focus on the areas of interdisciplinary American Indian Studies, California Indian Studies, federal Indian policy, American Indian identity, and Indigenous feminisms. Professor Chilcote is the author of Unrecognized in California: Federal Acknowledgment and the San Luis Rey Band of Mission Indians (University of Washington Press, 2024), which examines the distinct crisis of tribal federal recognition in California.