Modernity at the edges of the Spanish Enlightenment. Novelty and material culture in Floridablanca Colony (Patagonia, 18th century)

Abstract

The Nueva Colonia y Fuerte de Floridablanca was established by the Spanish Crown at the time of Charles III as part of a project of colonization of the Patagonian Atlantic coast. It was a social experiment by the eighteenth century Spanish Enlightenment where reason, order, and utopic thought all shared an outstanding role. It was created from tabula rasa on a distant and marginal area without any previous colonial occupations, drawing the edges of the modern world. The term modern refers to an Age presenting a strong relationship to the past as well as appearing as the result of a transition from the old to the new. Modernity is neither spatially nor temporally homogeneous, but implies a new relationship past-present. The idea of “novelty” is in this way central to the definition of modernity. In this chapter I am interested in exploring novelty as part of different choices and decisions made by individuals in everyday life in Floridablanca. That is linked to how individuals used material culture to negotiate new identities. The acquisition of new objects derived from consumption practices, together with the incorporation of unfamiliar or unknown objects as well as the keeping and exhibition of certain personal items were evaluated.