From Tovaangar to the University of California, Los Angeles

Abstract

In 2019, the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) celebrated its centennial year with little public recognition of the Gabrieliño-Tongva and Tovaangar, the original inhabitants of the region known as the Los Angeles Basin. Reflecting on this occasion, this paper considers UCLA’s relationship to the invasion and colonization of California, adding to the growing body of research examining the history of chattel slavery and Indigenous dispossession in the establishment of US higher education. Focusing on lands occupied by the UCLA campus, this article tracks the movement of communally stewarded lands of the Gabrieliño-Tongva over three waves of colonialism: Spanish missionaries’ illegal seizure of lands to construct Mission San Gabriel Arcángel in 1771, privatization of lands into ranchos under Mexican governance after 1821, and the subdivision and sale of lands under US rule after 1850. (Re)storying this narrative, this article documents the unsevered link between the original inhabitants of Tovaangar and UCLA to underscore the need for postsecondary institutions to confront their colonial inheritance and reorient responsibilities that fortify the futures of California Native nations.

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