Etnogénesis, desindigenización y campesinismos. Apuntes para una reflexión teórica del cambio cultural y las relaciones interculturales del pasado

Abstract

This paper is an exploration of intercultural relationships and social change in the 18th and 19th centuries in Colombia. It approaches two social phenomena that have been generally conceived as inversely proportional: processes of "de-indigenization" and the configuration of the Colombian peasantry. This unilinear link invokes an evolutionist interpretation, which has not only prevented an accurate reading of historic intercultural relationships but has also influenced certain contemporary identity dynamics. Essentialisms, from the government, academia and/or communities, overlook the effects of phenomena such as social change, the polysemy of representation regimes, or the overlap of identities.