Inhabiting the sertões: archaeologies and sertaneja materialities in the community of Floresta, São João da Serra, Piauí

Historical archaeology in the Brazilian Northeast has primarily focused, for a long time, on the coast and on large buildings and monuments, such as churches and fortifications. More recently, however, important research has been conducted on low-visibility sites, on the production, circulation, and (re)use of material items, on mobility and territoriality, in addition to other components of the ways of life and modes of existence of rural populations from the 19th century to the present. Engaging with these perspectives, and based on a case study of ethnographic archaeology, focusing on the present and recent past in the Piauí’s ‘Sertões’ (hinterland), I propose reflections on how the materiality of materials plays a role in the composition of what we conventionally call Material Culture.

Keywords
Ethnographic archaeologies; Archaeology of the present; Sertanejo populations; Material culture studies; Materiality studies