Two Sides of the Same Coin: Microhistory, Micropolitics, and Infrapolitics in Medieval Archaeology

Abstract

In this study, it is argued that a microhistorical perspective applied to historical archaeologies provides intelligibility to certain mechanisms of exercise of power and forms of resistance in the local sphere. Adopting a microhistorical approach, two primary mechanisms of social order consensus creation and contestation are explored through the creation and negotiation of symbolic capital. Micropolitics are understood as a set of poorly formalised but meaningful practices that define, model, and negotiate forms of social domination by integrating different communicative languages. Infrapolitics shape the forms of resistance and agency of subaltern groups and, by definition, are not easy to track and identify. Through the study of small empirical illustrations from the medieval period in the Basque Country, the aim is to argue that there is a correlation between the intensity and complexity of the political practices that develop in local societies and the forms of contestation of rights and cohesion mechanisms. To carry out this analysis, material, textual, mnemonic, and oral records are used.