Narratives of Conquest, Colonialism, and Cutting‐Edge Technology
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 7189541 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Enrique Rodríguez‐alegría (The University of Texas at Austin, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2008 |
| Volume | 110 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 33-43 |
| Publication date | 2008-03-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | American Anthropologist (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0002-7294 • E-ISSN: 1548-1433 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/j.1548-1433.2008.00006.x |
| OpenAlex | W2147858159 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 62 |
| References cited | 30 |
Many empirical studies have demonstrated that some indigenous technologies in the Americas survived for a long time after European colonization. Still, a narrative of the quick replacement of “Stone Age” indigenous technologies by more efficient European technologies continues to be the main model to explain postcontact technological change. I argue in this article that an important reason for the perseverance of this model is its clear narrative quality. I discuss alternative narrative strategies and examine in detail the case of Xaltocan, Mexico, where indigenous people resumed and intensified chipped‐stone tool production and use after the Spanish conquest, instead of adopting steel knives. I argue that this trend was related to access to the means of production rather than to European notions of “practicality.” This model invites us to rewrite histories of postconquest technological change without assuming a quick replacement of indigenous tools and technologies
Aesthetics · Ancient history · Archaeology · Art · Colonialism · CONQUEST · Economics · Emerging technologies · Indigenous · Literature · Narrative · Production (economics · Sociology · Technological change · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Computer Science · Ecology · Historical and Cultural Archaeology Studies · History · Latin American history and culture
The Archaeology and History of Colonial Mexico
Material Encounters and Indigenous Transformations in the Early Colonial Americas
Colonial Encounters in Lucayan Contexts
Resignification as Fourth Narrative
Mexico
Mesoamerican Archaeology
Historical Archaeology in Central and Western Mesoamerica
Vital Relations
Generative AI as Cultural Artifact
Indigenous Technologies in the Conquest and Colonization of Mexico
Reflections on Reflections
Obsidian Obsessed? Examining Patterns of Chipped-Stone Procurement at Late Postclassic Tututepec, Oaxaca
The Symbolism of Obsidian in Postclassic Central Mexico
Obsidian Symbolism in a Temple Offering from La Laguna, Tlaxcala
Obsidian and Household Ritual at Xochitecatl-Cacaxtla
Tribute, Antimarkets, and Consumption
Technological Transformations
A Spectral Haunting of Society
Ceramics and the Spanish Conquest
Resistance, the Church, and a Comparison of Ceramics from Sixteenth-Century Caluco, El Salvador
How to Make a New Spain
Trade, tribute, and neutron activation
Prosperity, power, and change
Beyond the colonial curtain
Postclassic and Early Colonial mortuary practices in the Nejapa region of Oaxaca, Southern Mexico
Tlaloc, Christ, and St. Michael
From Stone to Metal
Taken with a Grain of Salt
Testing the accuracy of portable X-ray fluorescence to study Aztec and Colonial obsidian supply at Xaltocan, Mexico
Rethinking cultural hybridity and technology transfer
Industrializing Shell-Bead Production in Northern New Jersey
The space between
Bridging Conceptual Divides Between Colonial and Modern Worlds
Architectural space in the Muisca settlement of La Maria (Chia, Colombia) during the Prehispanic and Colonial periods
Obsidian on the Periphery
The roots of the Columbian Exchange
Categories in Motion
Modern Colonialism, Eurocentrism and Historical Archaeology
Let's get fiscal
Set in stone
Sustainability as a Relative Process
The chronology and collapse of pre-Aztec raised field (chinampa) agriculture in the northern Basin of Mexico
Everyday Action and the Rise and Decline of Ancient Polities
Historical Archaeology in the Basin of Mexico and the Central Mexican Symbiotic Region
Native American Consumption of Shell and Glass Beads at Mission Santa Clara De Asís
Archaeologies of Persistence
Everyday Practice and Ritual Space
Volcanic Glass and Iron Nails
Historical Archaeology of Indigenous Culture Change in Mesoamerica
The Trade in Cooking Pots Under the Aztec and Spanish Empires
Points of contention
A constitutional approach to cacao money
Native acquisition of obsidian in colonial-era central California
What's New? Rethinking Ethnogenesis in the Archaeology of Colonialism
Obsidian Source Use in the Greater Yellowstone Area, Wyoming Basin, and Central Rocky Mountains
Archaeology and the Time of Modernity
Incumbents and Challengers
Conexiones Globales y Locales en Entierros Coloniales en Nejapa, Oaxaca
Archaeological Interpretation and the Rewriting of History
Feminine Knowledge and Skill Reconsidered
The Field Crew Symposium
Ontology of the self and material culture
Anthropology & the colonial encounter
Aztec warfare
Technological Perspectives on Behavioral Change
A Plague of Sheep
The Spanish Frontier in North America
The study of material culture today
Guns, germs and steel
Social agency and the dynamics of prehistoric technology
Ethnohistory and Archaeology
Early Native North American Responses to European Contact
Cultural Politics in Colonial Tehuantepec
The Aztecs Under Spanish Rule
Behavioral Analysis and the Structure of a Prehistoric Industry [and Comments and Reply]
A Technological Typology of Prismatic Blades and Debitage From Ojo de Agua, Chiapas, Mexico
The Electric Lighthouse in the Nineteenth Century
The Revolution of the Ax
A dark light
Gender and prehistoric technology
Men Without Masters
Encountering Development
Culture Contact Studies
Fetishised Objects and Humanised Nature
Contemporary Central Mexican Ceramics
Agency, practical politics and the archaeology of culture contact
Social Anthropology of Technology
Techniques of the body∗
| Unique citing works | 62 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 3,65 |
| Citation span | 2009 - 2026 (18) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 62 |