Indigenous agency and limits to the colonial order in South America

Abstract

Although acculturation models have long dominated the archaeological approach to colonialism, this trend has been reversed by exploring more pluralistic and inclusive perspectives to address Indigenous–European relations. Of course, this does not imply denial of the profound negative impact that colonialism had on Native peoples over time. This change of perspective in archaeology has been made possible by investigations carried out in different regions of the American continent—as well as in other parts of the world—that emphasize Native agency and its role in altering colonial structures. Most of these approaches consider heterogeneity, ambivalence, and the multidirectional nature of intercultural relations (e .g., Orser 1996 ; Lightfoot et al. 1998 ; Silliman 2001 , 2005 ; Quiroga 2005 ; Liebmann 2008 ; Voss 2008 , 2015; Jordan 2009 , 2014 ; Beck et al. 2011 ; Liebmann and Murphy 2011 ; Panich 2013 ; Ferris et al. 2014 ; Schneider and Panich 2014 ; Butto 2015 ; Meza and Ferreira 2015 ; Scaramelli and Scaramelli 2015 ; Symanski and Gomes 2015 ; Buscaglia 2017 ; Saletta and Fiore 2019 , among others)...