Material culture, Mestizage, and social segmentation in Santarem, Northern Brazil

Abstract

This chapter discusses the processes of cultural exchange between Portuguese, Portuguese–Brazilian, Amerindians, and mestizos based on the analysis of the material culture from households of Santarém (PA), in the north of Brazil. These groups manipulated material culture aiming to express distinct sets of values, related to hierarchy, social segmentation, and affirmation of identities, but an important feature of these household assemblages is ambiguity, expressed in the co-occurrence of local and imported items. This material ambiguity informs about the mixtures of both practices and cultural references that brought about the building of a mestizo society in northern Brazil.