Cultivating citriculture: women, labor, and settler-colonial mythology in the Southern California citrus industry

This dissertation explores the connection between the historical citrus industry and the identity formation of Southern California through the symbolism of the orange, with a specific focus on women within this dynamic. It analyzes the Southern California citrus industry's history, crate label ephemera, and collective memory from the 1870s to today, alongside the essential contributions of women, primarily Mexican and Mexican American, to understand how the orange came to symbolize Southern California’s white nativist regional identity. Mexican and Mexican American women's industrial labor, domesticity, images, and community activism were not just necessary but instrumental for the citrus industry's function and success and the establishment of the surrounding communities. The region’s cultural authorities relied on settler colonialism, fantasy heritage, and cultivating the iconic imagery of citrus advertising, or citriculture. This initiative was aimed at shaping Southern California as an Anglo-elite agrarian paradise while diminishing the presence and contributions of Mexican and Mexican Americans during and after the citrus era. The white nativist identity symbolized by the orange is preserved by commemorating the citrus industry at public heritage sites and the citriculture still permeating the region. Mexican and Mexican American art forms have resisted this white nativist identity in Southern California by challenging the exclusionary practices of local heritage sites and re-establishing their history in the built environment.