Chumash Revolution Thesis Published!

After four years of undergraduate and graduate study in History at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, I am proud to share that my Masters Thesis about the largest Indigenous revolution against the California Mission system is published! The thesis, titled “The Chumash War of 1824: Revolution and Counterrevolution in the California Missions Santa Inés, Santa Barbara, and La Purísima,” is free for all to read on Cal Poly’s digital commons and has already received hundreds of downloads since first published after I graduated in June.

This thesis was truly a labor of love. First inspired by reporting a did for the Santa Maria Sun in 2018 about the “Chumash Revolt,” I arrived at Cal Poly as an undergraduate in 2021 looking to explore this local history further, expanding on what previous scholarship had done on the issue and how further study could approach this radical California history in my senior literature review project, which was published in Cal Poly’s history journal, The Forum. Once I entered the Masters of History program in Fall of 2023, I was prepared to go the extra mile (several miles) and conduct original research by multiple means, including visits to the Bancroft Library at UC Berkley, to conferences and lecture presentations across the Central Coast, and hours spent at the Santa Barbara Mission Archive-Library to review dozens of original documents from the mission period and the events I detail in the thesis.

I also took the time to fire up my Political Payne YouTube channel, which had gone mostly dormant during my years of juggling college courses and fulltime work, to interview Chumash folks about the uprising in 1824. The interview I conducted with Chumash Elder Marianne Parra is a particular point of pride, one of the most important and best interviews I’ve ever conducted in my decades in journalism, which I also cited in the thesis. Please view this interview if you would like an introduction to what I discuss in the thesis and hear the voice of a Chumash elder speak on the significance of the revolutionary efforts of the Chumash in 1824.

For the last two years, it was hard to see anything past this thesis and the gargantuan task of seeing it to completion. I could not have done it without the constant support of my wife, Candice, who gassed me up every step of the way in my schooling and with this thesis. I know I could not have achieved my graduation with awards and distinction without her. Love you Boo!

Thanks to everyone who has expressed an interest in this topic, from my supportive professors at Cal Poly to fellow independent podcasters who have had me on to their shows to discuss my scholarship. These podcasts include This is Revolution! with Jason Myles, Varn Vlog with C. Derick Varn, and more recently 805 Uncensored and the Noah Santiago Podcast. Check out these independent creators such as myself and the interesting conversations they are hosting outside of the corporate media sphere.

As we continue to see the escalating authoritarianism present in the United States under the current political regime, a regime which is openly hostile to history as a discipline and a means for understanding power, it is more important than ever for all of us to reconsider and connect with the history of our country, our localities, and our own lives. The radical actions of the Chumash at the three missions in Santa Barbara County two hundred years ago is just one story of many in the history of resistance against settler-colonial oppression, but one I hope to highlight and continue to reveal to Californians and people worldwide. The struggle has been ongoing for centuries, and we won’t forget those who carried the torch for freedom against oppression and authoritarian control. No matter how much the powers that be try, they will never snuff out that light.