Monterey County
A Multiracial/Multiethnic Demographic History
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Over the past fourteen years, I have had the honor and joy of working with a wide range of students at California State University Monterey Bay. Our interdisciplinary studies have included the areas of multicultural history, cultural group studies, education, politics, and ethics. Almost all of my students have come up through the K-12 school systems of California.
During these years, I have continuously been struck by how my students have made sense of the socio-cultural conditions of the world in which they live. That is, the typical student has had a view of the world that is largely non-historical and rooted in a ‘taken-for-grantedness’ about the conditions around them. While the students would readily recognize
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racial and cultural diversity, and immediately acknowledge the social and economic inequality that are somehow connected to race, they would generally interpret both diversity and inequality as part of the natural order of things. That’s just the way things are!
So, this web site is dedicated to my students and to all the learners that are still in the high schools and colleges of Monterey County. My goal is to provide historical data and documentation that can demonstrate that racial/ethnic diversity and inequality are not natural conditions to be taken for granted. Rather, they are conditions that are the result of concrete human decisions and actions that have occurred in the past, and which continue to occur in the present.
It is not my intent to provide a comprehensive, narrative multiracial history of Monterey County. A body of good histories already exists, and I will rely on many of those works. Rather, I view this web site as a reference or a supplementary resource that college and high school instructors and students might find useful in their courses and their research. It might also be of some use to local residents who have an interest in the socio-cultural history of the area or in issues of social justice.
Rather than waiting until this project in “done” to place it on the web, I am putting it online now and adding to it and editing it as I go. I am doing this so that I might benefit from any feedback, comments, or suggestions that visitors might wish to offer. So, thoughts and ideas are welcomed.
Joe Larkin
CSU Monterey Bay
831-657-9720