Ethnogenesis and Cultural Persistence in the Global Spanish Empire

Summary

Ethnogenesis and cultural persistence are dynamic and variable processes of identity creation, manipulation, and co-constitution, which also include the persistence, reinforcement, and reconstitution of elements of cultural and ethnic identities. Our focus is not simply on indigenous groups or colonists, but rather on the larger context of agents within multi-cultural, pluralistic colonies. The colonies established by the Spanish throughout the Americas, the Caribbean, Pacific, Southeast Asia and Africa, brought together individuals and groups from both near and distant diverse cultures. Together, these colonies were economically, politically, and religiously connected to one another. Spanish colonies were, moreover, a catalysis of cross-cultural exchange, conflict, and persistence as colonists, merchants, and various indigenous individuals and groups moved throughout the empire. It is thus an ideal setting to explore questions of ethnogenesis and the persistence of local and indigenous traditions in old and new contexts. This paper offers a broad, comparative exploration of the archaeology and ethnohistory of ethnogenesis, persistence, and the many permutations of identity throughout the Spanish Empire. It sets up a conceptual framework for the case studies that follow, representing seven world regions.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 19976