Entangled Relations: The Expansion of a Colonial Frontier in Central Brazil During the Eighteenth Century

Abstract

This chapter aims to examine the process of colonial expansion in one of the fringes of Portuguese America. A pioneer area of occupation in Central Brazil during the eighteenth century, which included villages, mining areas, plantations and runaway slaves’ settlements, will be analyzed. While investigating the process of gradual expansion of the colonial frontier in this area, we will discuss the interactions between different inhabitants and how they became entangled. Particular emphasis will be given to how these entanglements are related to the construction of power and ethnicity. Discussions will be drawn from actor–network theory (ANT). Three concepts derived from this theory will be instrumental in our analysis: agency, affordance and translation. In order to go beyond the study of the “social landscape,” which focuses on the human and social components of the landscape and has been the dominant perspective of analyses in historical archaeology, we will systematically consider non-human components in our discussions.