Paisanos. La etnicidad de los vascos en Potosí, c. 1600-1625

Abstract

This article aims to analyze and shed light on the social organization of Basques in Potosí (in Upper Peru) in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. In doing so, it turns to the concept of ethnicity, which has been used to analyze migrant groups in different parts of the contemporary world, but can be equally usefully applied to the colonization of the Americas from the sixteenth century onwards. The Basques constitute a particularly clear example of this. The core of the text discusses the discourse of identity and the forms of social organization developed within this group, above all with regard to the lay brotherhood (cofradía) of Nuestra Señora de Aránzazu.

Keywords

• Ethnicity
• Basques
• Potosí
• Vicuñas
• Conflict