DE LA REPRESENTACIÓN CULTURAL DE LA OTREDAD A LA MATERIALIZACIÓN DE LA DIFERENCIA: ARQUEOLOGÍA CONTEMPORÁNEA DE LA DOMESTICIDAD ENTRE LOS VAQUEIROS D'ALZADA Y LOS MARAGATOS (ESPAÑA)

Abstract

This paper explores contemporary processes of cultural change in two rural areas of northwest Spain. These areas were inhabited by social groups with strong cultural identities that have made its mark in the material culture: the Vaqueiros d'Alzada and the Maragatos. The houses of three villages in each case study are analyzed through an archaeological methodology, revealing the key role materiality plays in processes of cultural change. Overall, there is a transition between preindustrial forms of peasant domesticity towards a conception of the house as a representational device used to display social and symbolic capital by highly individualized people from urban areas. The study shows how a combination of archaeological and ethnographic methodologies can politicize contemporary contexts of cultural change that are apparently neutral.