“Gente bárbara”: Indigenous Rebellion, Resistance and Persistence in Colonial Cuba, c. 1500-1800

Jason M. Yaremko
 

ABSTRACT

This essay examines old and new perspectives on the dynamic of indigenous resistance, transculturation, and intercultural relations in colonial Cuba. This essay argues that indigenous peoples in Cuba survived and persisted for a period well beyond the first century of the conquest in Cuba through a combination of violent and more subtle forms of resistance ranging from rebellion to flight and forms of negotiated acculturation such as mestizaje. In turn, resistance was facilitated by additional factors of varying influence, including Amerindian and Spanish colonial migration patterns, and Spanish imperial laws, policies and administration. This study raises questions about traditional historiographies that de-emphasize mestizaje and the indigenous role in the Caribbean after the early colonial period. Based on evidence from Spanish, Cuban and other repositories, a re-examination of traditional sources, and incorporation of recent archaeological evidence, the author argues for a new emphasis on the resourcefulness and resilience of peoples marginalized by history and historians.