Abstract

Becoming a Place of Institution: The Military Footprint of the Presidio of San Francisco

by

Eric Brandan Blind

Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology

University of California, Berkeley

Professor Kent G. Lightfoot, Chair

This dissertation aims to illuminate the role of institutions in crafting a future that both enables and constrains future generations. Previous research on institutions has focused almost exclusively on physical institutions and more so on total institutions, such as prisons and asylums. A deeper examination of the literature shows another strain of institutional theory that uses the lens to look at more conceptual institutions, such as marriage or belief systems. In bridging the two, a more coherent model of institutional analysis is pursued.

This dissertation involves an in-depth case study of the military institution at the Presidio of San Francisco. It focuses on the creation and re-creation of this place over generations and through imperial and national regimes, including the militaries of Spain, Mexico and the United States. Throughout this place-based analysis multiple lines of evidence are used and integrated through the device of storytelling using the biographical paths of individuals or life histories of artifacts to understand the larger institutional projects each intersected with and was instrumental in perpetuating.

The approach illustrates how storytelling is not only an integrative device, but also an approach that elucidates the values that lie at the heart of any institutional project. It demonstrates how places are the locus for the manifestation of those values, one that is both setting for the social reproduction of the institution and the product of its reproduction.

The findings prompt a re-thinking of place based-approaches and the role of institutional theory in examining historical trajectories. Given the import and magnitude of the US military presence in the world today it also calls for greater study of this institution to not only understand its impacts abroad, but also to better understand the role it plays at home. Finally, but most importantly, this study calls for more research into this institution, because as it is demonstrated in this study, the legitimacy and success of the US military institution today will surely lead it to be referenced in the future.