The Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Mission Indians is a
federally recognized tribe
This is a list of federally recognized tribes in the contiguous United States of America. There are also federally recognized Alaska Native tribes. , 574 Indian tribes were legally recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) of the United ...
of
Chumash, an
indigenous people of California, in
Santa Barbara.
[Pritzker 122] Their name for themselves is Samala. The locality of Santa Ynez is referred to as ''’alaxulapu'' in
Chumashan language.
Government
The Santa Ynez Band is headquartered in
Santa Ynez, California. They are governed by a democratically elected, five-member tribal council. Their current tribal administration is as follows:
* Chairman: Kenneth Kahn
* Vice-chairman: Mike Lopez
* Secretary/Treasurer: Maxine Littlejohn
* Business Committee Member: Gary Pace
* Business Committee Member: Raul Armenta
Reservation
The Santa Ynez Indian Reservation () is the only Chumash
reservation __NOTOC__
Reservation may refer to: Places
Types of places:
* Indian reservation, in the United States
* Military base, often called reservations
* Nature reserve
Government and law
* Reservation (law), a caveat to a treaty
* Reservation in India, ...
.
[ It was 127-acres large and was established on 27 December 1901.][ Beginning in 1979, the tribe established a housing program and began improving the infrastructure on the reservation.
]
Samala Chumash language
The last native speaker of the Samala Chumash language, also called Ineseño, died in 1965. As of 2010, there has been a renaissance of Chumash pride and identity, including efforts to revive Samala and other Chumash languages.
In the early 1900s linguist/ethnographer John P. Harrington
John Peabody Harrington (April 29, 1884 – October 21, 1961) was an American linguist and ethnologist and a specialist in the indigenous peoples of California. Harrington is noted for the massive volume of his documentary output, most of which h ...
worked with Maria Solares, one of the last fluent speakers of Samala. He created manuscripts containing information on Chumash language, culture, and traditions. Dr. Richard Applegate, who received a PhD in linguistics from U.C. Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant univ ...
, used these manuscripts to write an extensive grammar of Samala and compile a dictionary of the language, which was released in 2008. Dr. Applegate and Nakia Zavalla, the Cultural Director for the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash and a direct descendant of Maria Solares, have begun an effort to revitalize the language. Applegate began teaching Samala in 2003, and Zavalla has spearheaded an immersion-based language apprentice program. As of 2008, Applegate had five language apprentices; however, none had yet reached full fluency.
An online Samala Chumash tutorial is available.
Economic development
The Santa Ynez Band owns and operates the Chumash Casino Resort
The Chumash Casino Resort is owned and operated by the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Mission Indians. Chumash is located near Santa Ynez Airport, in the Santa Ynez Indian Reservation, about east of Solvang, California.
History
Opened in its presen ...
, as well as the Chumash Cafe, the Creekside Buffet, The Willows restaurant, and Root 246, (formerly the third largest employer in Solvang, 105, until its closure in 2021
Education
The reservation is served by the College Elementary School District and Santa Ynez Valley Union High School District.
Notes
References
* Pritzker, Barry M. ''A Native American Encyclopedia: History, Culture, and Peoples''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Mission Indians
*
Native American tribes in California
Federally recognized tribes in the United States
Organizations based in Santa Barbara County, California
Santa Ynez Valley
Native American language revitalization