Between resilience and resistance: towards an archaeology of peasant societies through the long duration

Abstract

The increasing role that peasant-based societies are playing in today’s world has a direct connection with the emergence of a peasant archaeology as a stimulating path to tackle their history from renewed points of view. However, this discipline lacks of a deep theoretical and methodological background in order to delve into questions such as peasant agency and resistance or the articulation of peasant-based societies with the surrounding social and political milieu. Departing from a discussion of some key ideas coming from Historical Sociology —such as the problemoriented methodology, comparative approaches or the long duration—, I will develop a comparative analyses between two case studies in the Valdeorras region, located in northwestern Iberia. The first one deals with the settlement pattern and social relationships after the dismantling of the Roman Empire in Western Europe. The second case study will focus on the introduction of modernity and the resistance it provoked in local peasant-based societies through the emergence of a guerrilla warfare during the beginning of the Francoist regime. Both case studies will highlight the capacity of agency and resistance of peasant-based societies from an archaeological point of view, concluding that the dialectical relation they establish with elite groups is key for the understanding of these societies.