Lo global y lo local en la colonialidad: prácticas cotidianas en la Nueva Población y Fuerte de Floridablanca (San Julián, Siglo XVIII)

Abstract

Recently, the colonial expansion of modern society has been studied from various disciplines and theoretical perspectives. South American historical archaeology in particular has discussed the homogenizing nature of this global process in order to reevaluate specific contexts through time and space. This paper is centered on the articulation of the global and the particular and the place assigned to agents and local processes in the formation of colonial societies. Latin American postcolonial theory shines light on this debate through the critical assessment of modern discourse and the acknowledgement of colonial legacies. The discussion is illustrated with a case study from the Spanish colonization of the Patagonian coast in the late eighteenth century, the "Nueva Población y Fuerte de Floridablanca," San Julián Bay, Santa Cruz province, Argentina. The study of social reproduction and transformation in Floridablanca presented here centered on social scenarios not foreseen by the Spanish Crown in its colonial planning. The focus on small scale social practices enabled the tension between colonial categories and their implementation in practice to be examined.