Arqueología colonial como transdisciplina

Abstract

In this paper, colonial archaeology is understood as a “transdiscipline”. This epistemological definition implies, firstly, to approach the complex colonial processes from different disciplines simultaneously; secondly, it implies understanding past societies as a totality, even when they do not show coherence or internal consistency. In this way, the material and narrative world is part of the social web, participating in daily social interactions, working as resources for control and negotiation of social positions. In this sense, both are part of the same social process, and this is why they should not be approached as post hoc, external and objective products. In particular, the contextual approach we present in this paper is centered in the theoretical-methodological perspective about the analysis of the narrative world. We present here the work carried out at the Spanish colony of Floridablanca (1780-1784), which has been oriented towards investigating and denaturalizing the forms of social organization present in the historical narratives, considering the tension between what is constructed as natural, and its discordances, ruptures and silences. Thus, they are not objective definitions of the social structure but forms of social ordering as they divide, disperse and reorganize the colonial world.