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Fortunately, many once excluded groups are now making their

presence known in academia and in the political sphere and
are retrieving their heritage (Andersen, 1992).

One way to retrieve this heritage is through the

telling of stories and life experiences. With the benefit

of remaining Kawaiisu elders providing a bridge to the past,

this thesis is an effort to ensure that some of the details

of recent Kawaiisu history are not lost and that their

stories and life experiences are told, not only from their

perspective, but as reported and analyzed by an insider.

The people who share their stories are related to me either

by blood or are distant kin. With the population of about

only 150, anymore, all Kawaiisu are kin. I have asked the

informants to tell about their own lives and by doing so,

their distinct identity as Kawaiisu emerges from their own

words.

Previous Research

There have been various mentions of the Kawaiisu in

larger reference texts about California tribes and/or

western United States tribes (Hodge, 1907; Kroeber, 1925;

Hart, 1967, among others). The name "Kawaiisu" is a recent

invention, interpreted from the Yokutsan languages recorded

by Alfred L. Kroeber. The name was applied to the tribe of

the Tehachapi valley area in the 19 07 Handbook of American

Indians, Volume I (Hodge, 1907) and has been used by

researchers ever since (Zigmond, 1986). The term "Kawaiisu"