Cultural Interaction and Creolization (or Transculturation or Hybridization or Mestización or Criollización) in the Studies of the Ancient Past of the Caribbean

Summary

Traditionally, the ancient history of the Caribbean is viewed as one where one culture replaces or dominates another through time. These views were highly influenced by the perspective of the early Anthropologists who saw intercultural relations through the colonial lens of dominant cultures and acculturation. Despite this emphasis on cultural "purity," the history of Caribbean archaeology includes several scholars who viewed cultural interaction more as an exchange of ideas and material culture. Although called by other names, these models are similar to what today we call creolization. This paper offers a historical overview of these theoretical perspectives from the traditional Culture-Historic approaches and discusses how they compared with contemporary concepts of creolization and ethnogenesis.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

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

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 18810