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A Contemporary Archaeology of Cultural Change in Rural North-Western Spain: From Traditional Domesticity to Postmodern Individualisation

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Abstract

This paper explores the built environment in two rural areas of Northwest Spain that were historically inhabited by two of the so-called “cursed peoples.” Combining contemporary archaeology and material culture studies, we analyze the role played by the house in processes of socio-economic and cultural change, and in the reproduction of internal hegemony within villages. To do so, we study the tensions and connections existing between the transformations undergone by the built environment during the last century and different socio-economic processes, including the depopulation of the rural areas, their conversion into tourist attractions, and the current process of individualisation of subjectivity in line with the transformations taking place in the postmodern era.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

    Pablo Alonso González

  2. Incipit-CSIC, Santiago de Compostela, Spain

    Pablo Alonso González

  3. Department of Prehistory, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain

    David González Álvarez

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  1. Pablo Alonso González
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  2. David González Álvarez
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Correspondence to Pablo Alonso González.

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Alonso González, P., González Álvarez, D. A Contemporary Archaeology of Cultural Change in Rural North-Western Spain: From Traditional Domesticity to Postmodern Individualisation. Int J Histor Archaeol 20, 23–44 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10761-015-0317-2

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