“Native Californians and the Collapse of Bay Area Missions”, the first lecture in the 2023 SPParks lecture series, presented by Lee Panich in January, was a fascinating look at the experiences of Native Californians during and after the impactful period of secularization of California missions. The secularization process, beginning in 1833, presented new opportunities as well as new challenges for the Native people, who found various ways of navigating the transition.

Lee Panich is associate professor of anthropology at Santa Clara University. In his research, he employs a combination of archaeological, ethnographic, and archival data to examine the long-term entanglements between California’s Indigenous societies and colonial institutions. His book, Narratives of Persistence: Indigenous Negotiations of Colonialism in Alta and Baja California is available in the Barracks Gift Store.