Doctoral Dissertation Research: Traditional kinship structures and European-derived diseases at Mission San Diego, California 1775-1845

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Doctoral student Carolyn Orbann (University of Missouri), under the guidance of Dr. Lisa Sattenspiel, will investigate the effects of traditional kinship structures on disease-related morbidity and mortality in a population of nineteenth century indigenous Californians at Mission Basilica San Diego de Alcala. Research will focus on assessing the stability of traditional kin structures within the mission and testing whether individuals with more kin at the mission experienced different risks of infection and/or death during acute infectious disease epidemics than did individuals with fewer kin. Research questions will be addressed through family and lineage reconstruction and development and analysis of an agent-based computer simulation model. Family and lineage reconstruction will be accomplished using vital records from Mission San Diego sacramental registers and historical and ethnographic information. The model to be used in this study takes into account daily activities, social contacts and age- and sex-structured behaviors. The model population is based on Mission vital statistics data; model parameters are based on available historical, ethnographic, and epidemiological information. Model results will be compared with documented mortality patterns to shed light on the possible cause of an observed mortality spike in the early 1800s.This study will result in an in-depth understanding of the impact of missionization on an understudied population (the Kumeyaay) and will contribute to the wider base of knowledge on the consequences of European colonization of North America. While the cultural attributes of the Kumeyaay have been studied previously, there have been few attempts to understand the direct impact of introduced disease as a cause of population decline. This study also provides greater knowledge of the roots of contemporary Kumeyaay and Latino populations in Southern California. In addition, the model developed in this project can be adapted for use in the study of disease in other kin-based populations with limited access to Western medicine. Funding this research also supports the education of a graduate student.