"Economic, Cultural, and Adaptationist Models of Technological Change in Colonial Mexico"

Through a series of theoretical moves that began in the nineteenth century, archaeologists have tended to explain technological change either from adaptationist standpoints that emphasize efficiency, or from cultural relativist standpoints that emphasize the social construction of practical reasoning. I will trace the history of the theoretical moves that have led to the epic battle between adaptationist and relativist perspectives, and argue that those theoretical moves have purposefully denied the role of economics in technological change. To evaluate the possibility of studying economic factors that may explain technological change, I focus on the change from stone to metal tools in colonial Mexico. This case-study will show some of the strengths of such an approach, as well as some of the pitfalls that economic approaches present to the study of technology.

 

 

Enrique Rodriguez-Alegria is Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Texas at Austin. His work focuses on the archaeology and history of Aztec and Spanish colonial Mexico. He has worked with the Programa de Arqueologia Urbana of the Templo Mayor Museum, studying the material remains of Spanish colonizers in Mexico City. He has also worked in Xaltocan, a small town north of Mexico City, studying the changes in the daily life of rural indigenous people under Aztec and later under Spanish domination. His recent publications include The Menial Art of Cooking: Archaeological Studies of Cooking and Food Preparation (co-edited with Sarah Graff, 2012 University Press of Colorado) and various articles and book chapters. He is currently editing The Oxford Handbook of the Aztecs (co-editor with Deborah Nichols). He was a fellow at the Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University (2010-2011) and he also received a fellowship from the Howard Foundation (2012-2013). 

 

 

Cosponsored by the Stanford Archeology Center.