South American Archaeology is living through a growing push towards a theoretical focus developed from within. Of particular influence is the concept of “coloniality”, an enduring form of colonialism that affects the frameworks of reference the colonized have of themselves. However, coloniality and the emphasis on “subaltern archaeologies” as a generalized category for the production of scholars hailing from then Global South can also paper over the hierarchies and inequalities within formerly colonized regions. In this paper, I explore the work of the Andean Oral History Workshop and Silvia Rivera Cusicanqui as an avenue for centering Indigenous frameworks in South American Archaeology and moving beyond a universalizing approach to coloniality. I build on the concept of ch’ixi, “a color that is the product of juxtaposition, in small points or spots, of opposed or contrasting colors” or “something that is and is not at the same time” (Rivera Cusicanqui 2020:65), and propose that a ch’ixi archaeology emphasizes the choices of people and communities to make sense of their worlds as a space of creativity and transformation that overcome the binary of colonizer/colonized.

Carla Hernández Garavito is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of California, Santa Cruz. A Peruvian archaeologist trained in the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, she completed her PhD at Vanderbilt University. Her work investigates the ways in which Andean communities in Peru made sense, transformed, and reinvented, colonial policies between the 15th century to the present. Her work has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Wenner-Gren Foundation, among others. Her work has been published in Spanish and English, and in several peer-reviewed journals. Her first book will be published by the University of Arizona Press in 2026.

Fall 2025 COLLOQUIUM SERIES

THE CENTER FOR CULTURAL STUDIES hosts a weekly Wednesday colloquium featuring work-in-progress by faculty & visitors. We are pleased to announce our Fall 2025 Series. Sessions begin promptly at 12:15 PM and end at 1:30 PM (PST) in Humanities Building 1, Room 210.

Staff assistance is provided by The Humanities Institute.