Archaeology of Domestic Spaces: Asymmetric Dependencies and Tactics of Resistance in San Basilio de Palenque. Colombia. 19th-20th Centuries.

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Global Archaeologies of the Long Emancipation", at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

The analysis of three models of houses in the Afro-Colombian community of San Basilio de Palenque points to developments in domestic spaces, each related to specific contexts of social, economic, and cultural transformations. Original domestic formations date from the early stages of the emergence of this maroon community. Another form of the house spread in the 19th century when slavery was still legal but was increasingly embedded in industrialization processes due to new labor regimes such as peonage. Eventually, the third form appeared from the 1960s onwards with the arrival of electricity and increased migration to cities. The persistence of specific spaces and their use suggests internal tactics of resistance to change. Thus, the archaeological analysis of domestic spaces in San Basilio provides insight into how afro-descendant populations in rural areas of the Americas deal with contexts of asymmetric dependencies during the transition from colonialism to industrialization.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2023   •
• Global Archaeologies of the Long Emancipation

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow