The Chief and Social Stratification
Chieftainship is still wrapped in much the same obscurity and vagueness as political bodies. There were no doubt hereditary chiefs in many parts of California.
Note: This article has been excerpted from a larger work in the public domain and shared here due to its historical value. It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA’s opinions and beliefs.
From Elements of Culture in Native California by Alfred Louis Kroeber, 1922.
The Chief
Chieftainship is still wrapped in much the same obscurity and vagueness as political bodies. There were no doubt hereditary chiefs in many parts of California. But it is difficult to determine how far inheritance was the formally instituted avenue to office, or was only actually operative in the majority of instances. In general it seems that chieftainship was more definitely hereditary in the southern half or two-thirds of the state than in the north central area.
Wealth was a factor of some consequence in relation to chieftainship everywhere, but its influence seems also to have varied according to locality. The northwestern tribes had hereditarily rich men of great influence, but no chiefs. Being without political organization, they could not well have had the latter.
The degree of authority of the chief is very difficult to estimate. This is a matter which can not be judged accurately from the accounts of relations between native groups and intruders belonging to a more highly civilized alien race. To understand the situation between the chief and his followers in the routine of daily life, it is necessary to have at command a more intimate knowledge of this life before its disturbance by Caucasian culture than is available for most Californian groups.
It does seem that the authority of the chief was considerable everywhere as far north as the Miwok, and by no means negligible beyond; while in the northwest the social effect of wealth was so great as to obtain for the rich a distinctly commanding position. Among certain of the Shoshoneans of southern California the chief, the assistant or religious chief, and their wives or children, were all known by titles; which fact argues that a fairly great deference was accorded them. Their authority probably did not lag much behind. Both the Juaneno and the Chumash are said to have gone to war to avenge slights put upon their chiefs.
The director of rituals as an assistant to the head chief is a southern California institution. Somewhat similar is the central Yokuts practice of having two chiefs for each tribe, one to represent each exogamous moiety. The chief had speakers, messengers, or similar henchmen with named offices, among the Coast Miwok, the interior Miwok, the Yokuts, the Juaneno, and no doubt among other groups.
The chief was everywhere distinctly a civil official. If he commanded also in battle, it seems to have been only through the accident of being a distinguished warrior as well. The usual war leader was merely that individual in the group who was able to inspire confidence through having displayed courage, skill, and enterprise in combat. It is only natural that his voice should have carried weight even in time of peace; but he seems not to have been regarded as holding an office. This distinction between the chief and the military leader appears to apply even to the Yuma and Mohave, among whom bravery was the supreme virtue.
There were no hereditary priests in California. A religious function often passed from father to son or brother’s son, but the successor took his place because his kinship had caused him to acquire the necessary knowledge, not in virtue of his descent as such. At that there was hardly a recognized class of priests. The old man who knew most held the direction of ceremonies; and in the Kuksu region a man became clown, or moki, or kuksu, or some other specific impersonator, rather than a priest as such.
The shaman of course was never an official in the true sense of the word, inasmuch as his power was necessarily of individual acquisition and varied directly according to his supernatural potency, or, as we should call it, his gifts of personality.
Social Stratification
Social classes of different level are hardly likely to develop markedly in so primitive a society as that of California, It is therefore highly distinctive of the northwestern area that the social stratification which forms so important an element in the culture of the North Pacific coast, appears among these people with undiminished vigor. The heraldic and symbolic devices of the more advanced tribes a thousand miles to the north are lacking among the Yurok: the consciousness of the different value of a rich and a poor man is as keen among them as with the Kwakiutl or the Haida.
The northwest is also the only part of California that knew slavery. This institution rested upon the economic basis of debt.
Wealth was by no means a negligible factor in the remainder of California, but it clearly did not possess the same influence as in the northwest. There seems to have been an effort to regulate matters so that the chief, through the possession of several wives, or through contributions, was in a position to conduct himself with liberality, especially toward strangers and in time of need. On the whole he was wealthy because he was chief rather than the reverse. Among the Colorado river tribes a thoroughly democratic spirit prevailed as regards property, and there was a good deal of the Plains sentiment that it behooved a true man to be contemptuous of material possessions.
Kroeber, A. L. Elements of Culture in Native California, University of California Press, 1922.
About TOTA
TOTA.world provides cultural information and sharing across the world to help you explore your Family’s Cultural History and create deep connections with the lives and cultures of your ancestors.
