Going Native in the Orange Empire
This document summarizes a presentation by Genevieve Carpio about the history and cultural mythology surrounding the navel orange in Southern California. Carpio argues that the narrative promoted the navel orange as central to regional identity in the 20th century, but this was a "selective tradition" that subordinated other economic systems and peoples. Specifically, it celebrated the arrival of white settlers while ignoring the roles and presence of indigenous peoples and laborers of color. The mythology portrayed the navel orange as a symbol of whiteness, capitalism, and the conquest of land, obscuring the racial dynamics and migrant labor that supported the citrus industry. Carpio's research examines how such narratives shaped concepts of cultural citizenship in the region.
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Going Native in the Orange Empire
- 1. Going Native in the Orange Empire by Genevieve Carpio, Ph.D. Clay Postdoctoral Fellow Department of History Yale University
- 2. Cities and developers have adopted regional heritage
- 3. We have a role in uncovering how these narratives work
- 4. Regional heritage is operative in shaping cultural citizenship
- 5. Uncovering a “selective tradition” reveals how cultural citizenship is produced
- 7. The navel orange was the center of 20th century regional identity
- 8. The production of heritage was a deliberate and exclusive process
- 9. It was a “selective tradition” based on the arrival of the Riverside colony
- 10. Commercial citrus subordinated alternative economic systems
- 11. But the people it celebrates were not the only settlers, nor the first
- 12. Claims to cultural citizenship were enforced along racial lines
- 13. The navel orange origin story leaves out two central characters
- 14. The pageantry of the replanting depended on brown bodies
- 15. The mythology of the navel reified white claims to multiracial land
- 16. President Roosevelt embraced this as an ongoing process of conquest
- 17. “There is no race suicide here” Pic of parade
- 18. The navel was synonymous with whiteness and progression to capitalism
- 20. USDA research was expanded to Brazil
- 21. The USDA led a fruit expedition to Brazil in the fall of 1913
- 22. Fears of outbreeding motivated study in the navel’s native habitat
- 23. Brazil seemed an agricultural frontier
- 24. Navel mythology reified global relationships of race and property
- 25. The visit aligned with Brazilian government interests
- 26. The USDA drew on similarities between U.S. and Brazilian growers
- 27. Depictions of ranches naturalized the bifurcation of land and labor
- 28. The Brazilian navel orange became American
- 29. Brazil was cast as an early California
- 30. The lines between the U.S. and Brazil were entrenched in fruit
- 31. The navel became native
- 33. Historical Society of Pomona Valley
- 36. USC Institute for Media Literacy
- 37. My work in public history ties into my larger book project
- 38. Argues mobility is a critical frame for understanding racialization
- 39. Explores how migrant status functioned within and outside immigration policy
- 40. Provides a cultural history of the Inland Empire
- 41. Regional identity remains an important part of cultural citizenship
- 43. Going Native in the Orange Empire by Genevieve Carpio, Ph.D. Clay Postdoctoral Fellow Department of History Yale University