Kitanemuk traditional narratives include myths, legends, tales, and oral histories preserved by the

Kitanemuk The Kitanemuk are an indigenous people of California. They traditionally lived in the Tehachapi Mountains and the Antelope Valley area of the western Mojave Desert of southern California, United States. Today some Kitanemuk people are enrolled in ...

people of the Tehachapi Mountains, southern

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily ...

, and the western

Mojave Desert The Mojave Desert ( ; mov, Hayikwiir Mat'aar; es, Desierto de Mojave) is a desert in the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada mountains in the Southwestern United States. It is named for the indigenous Mojave people. It is located primarily in ...

of southern California. Limited information has been published on Kitanemuk oral literature. More is like to be forthcoming from the papers of

John Peabody 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 ...

. Kitanemuk mythology seems to have shown influences from several of the group's neighbors, including the Kawaiisu, Chumash, and Yokuts. (''See also''

Traditional narratives (Native California) The traditional narratives of Native California are the folklore and mythology of the native people of California. For many historic nations of California, there is only a fragmentary record of their traditions. Spanish missions in California f ...

References

* Kroeber, A. L. 1907. "Indian Myths of South Central California". ''University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology'' 4:167-250. Berkeley. (Kitanemuk myth, pp. 243-244.) * Zigmond, Maurice. 1980. ''Kawaiisu Mythology: An Oral Tradition of South-Central California''. Ballena Press Anthropological Papers No. 18. Menlo Park, California. (Two Kitanemuk myths collected from Marcelino Rivera and Isabella Gonzales in the late 1930s, pp. 213-218.)

External links

On-Line Examples of Kitanemuk Narratives

"Indian Myths of South Central California"
by Alfred L. Kroeber (1907) {{Populations of Native California Groups Traditional narratives (Native California) History of the Mojave Desert region History of the Sierra Nevada (United States)