The Archaeology of Pericolonialism: Responses of the “Unconquered” to Spanish Conquest and Colonialism in Ifugao, Philippines

Abstract

Pericolonial archaeology investigates areas where European military conquests were unsuccessful, but were economically and politically affected by conquests and subsequent colonial activities in adjacent regions. By using a case study from the Philippines, this article focuses on the responses of indigenous peoples in the highland Philippines who appear to have resisted Spanish cooptation. The archaeological record suggests that economic and political intensification occurred in Ifugao coinciding with the appearance of the Spanish in the northern Philippines. This work on pericolonial archaeology shows that the effects of colonialism extended far beyond the areas actually colonized. More importantly, the investigations reported in this essay add to the increasing evidence of the false differentiation of the colonized and the “uncolonized.”