History Commons^™

Resisting Colonialism: Cultural Syncretism, Indigenous Agency And Exploition In Colonial Potosí, Isaac Galef-Brown

Senior Independent Study Theses

I analyze the transition indigenous peoples made from their native Andean communities to the Spanish colonial city of Potosí­ in modern day Bolivia. Although most historic study focuses on the infamous mita system of forced indigenous labor, I study the transition through the indigenous lens to find example of their economic gains as well as the cultural interactions they had with Spaniards. This alternative focus gives Potosí's past a very different characterization, defined less by exploitation and more by cultural syncretism.