In all human societies, textiles play important roles in social, economic, and religious life. As in other Polynesian societies, on Rapa Nui (Easter Island) in the second half of the 19th century, textiles were important locally and served, above all, as objects of exchange with foreign visitors. This article examines cultural transformations that occurred on Rapa Nui, as reflected in the use and signification of textiles, particularly in the use of introduced cloth and clothing during the times of the first missions and the first colonial agents. Our analysis is based on information taken from missionary writings and from the reports of travelers and explorers who visited the island during that period. Understanding that material culture cannot be separated from the cultural practices in which it is embedded, our analysis will focus on accounts referring to material objects as elements that reflect the social and cultural transformations of the historic context in which they were created. We argue that the islanders redefined Western textiles that were introduced, using them in ritual contexts appropriate to the island’s culture. European textiles acted as status markers within a new social organization, and also served as sociopolitical markers among island groups (Christian converts and non-converts).

The objective of this work is to analyze the mechanisms of reproduction of the coloniality of knowledge and the domination of indigenous epistemologies, based on the analysis of the materials and reading-writing instruments with which students work in different Andean and Amazonian schools of the Ecuadorian educational system during the Correísmo. The research methodology is cualitative and integrates ethnographic techniques: documentary analysis, participant and non-participant observation and semi-structured interviews. Starting from the recognition that interculturality is not possible without the “other” and without its decolonization, the findings reveal that, under the prostituted name of interculturality, these materials and instruments support the monocultural educational model of Eurocentric matrix within the logic of the coloniality of knowledge. The findings also show that in this scenario, some indigenous teachers are the ones who develop answering educational practices through which they transmit indigenous epistemologies, trying to alter the logic of the coloniality of knowledge.

To study the diet of a sample of peasants from Calakmul, Campeche, Mexico who suffered seasonal changes in body composition, we conducted an observational study of dietary patterns over 24-hour periods made at 15-day intervals during the 2001-2002 agricultural cycle. The study was complemented with a list of locally hunted, harvested or gathered foods, obtained from key informant interviews in 2018. Significantly more Kilocalories (Kcal) were obtained from the local environment than from store-purchased foods in both seasons, emphasizing the dietary importance of local subsistence production over commercial endeavors. There were no Kcal differences between seasons. Food obtained from agricultural plots, backyards and woodlands offered a balanced diet, but diversity was greater during the abundance season. The results suggest that the reported weight loss during the scarcity season is not due to a lack of food, but to the deterioration of the diet ́s complementarity which store foods are unable to compensate for.

Mónica A. Berón, Florencia N. Paez, Manuel P. Carrera Aizpitarte and Eliana N. Lucero

The aim of this paper is to report on the characteristics of a singular burial corresponding to the Middle Holocene, in the central region of Argentina (Western Pampa subregion). Its chronology provides valuable information for the knowledge of settlement processes in this semi-arid region, where there is currently scarce data available for this period. The burial possesses abundant and varied grave goods, comparable with those in another similar burial in the subregion. Archaeological information from the macro region under study (32 to 39o LS) is summarized, and models of mobility patterns and initial occupation of spaces are analyzed, including biases and general trends in the population processes. Finally, regularities in the modalities of Middle Holocene burials from the Western Pampa are outlined.