Between class and ethnicity: the experience of women in the archaeology of the Central Andes

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Behind the Scenes and on the Stage: The Women Who Shaped Archaeology" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The countries of the Central Andes are diverse in their class, ethnic, and gender compositions, as well as in how these identity categories intersect in practice. In this paper, I analyze whether this social reality—which partly began with Spanish colonization and took root during the rise of the young nations—influenced the practice of archaeology, particularly the roles of women within the discipline. By examining case studies from Chile, Peru, and Bolivia, I explore the positions women occupied during the development of archaeology as a field of study. I focus on how their class and ethnic backgrounds intersected with their gender and sexual identities, and whether these factors shaped their access to certain networks. Additionally, I investigate how Feminist, Indigenous, and Afro-descendant social movements impacted the integration of women in each of these countries. This paper is presented within the framework of the Herstory project (ref. PID2023-149477NB-I00).

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• Behind the Scenes and on the Stage: The Women Who Shaped Archaeology

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 53138