The San Manuel Band of Mission Indians recently spent serious capital reintroducing themselves as the Yuhaaviatam of San Manuel Nation. Their campaign, “A Name Has Power,” looks like marketing on the surface, but it’s a declaration of sovereignty.
Yuhaaviatam means “People of the Pines.” It predates colonization, reaching back to the Serrano people who stewarded the San Bernardino Mountains long before “San Manuel” was imposed by the mission and the federal systems.
Reclaiming that name isn’t a rebrand, it’s a repair.
When a sovereign nation spends this kind of capital on identity, it’s not cosmetic; it’s constitutional. The campaign follows the tribe’s adoption of a new governing framework and the reaffirmation of its cultural and linguistic roots. This is sovereignty through storytelling, aligning their billion-dollar enterprises with their ancestral narrative.
I’ve written before about how colonization didn’t just steal land; it stripped away language, seeds, and sacred practices: the roots of health and identity.
“When the government forcibly removed Native communities from their ancestral lands, it wasn’t just geography they lost. It was language, seeds, sacred practices, and healing foods that rooted them to health and identity.”
That line applies here. The Yuhaaviatam aren’t marketing a casino or hotel; they’re restoring a vocabulary of belonging. In a world obsessed with logos and slogans, they remind us that words once used for erasure can become instruments of reclamation.
That’s the difference between Facebook’s rebrand as Meta. Meta rebranded to outrun its shadow. Yuhaaviatam renamed to stand in its light.
That’s also why I named my company Shōkunin, Japanese for “craftsman,” but its spirit is deeper. They work with mastery and humility, doing something so well that it honors those who came before them and serves those who come after. Purpose over profit, integrity over image.
For me, Shōkunin is not a brand. It’s a reminder:
The name you choose should tell the truth about who you are becoming.
So the next time a company announces a “rebrand,” ask yourself:
Are they running from something, or returning to it?
