Eviction and the archive: materials for an archaeology of the Archivo General de Indias

The founding of the Archivo General de Indias (AGI) in Seville, Spain, was rooted in both scholarly debates and colonial violence. This study reveals that the establishment of the AGI—an Enlightenment-era project aimed at preserving Spanish colonial records—was predicated on the eviction and erasure of its original inhabitants. By adopting an archaeological approach to the archive's material and architectural foundations, the research traces how Juan Bautista Muñoz's historiographical defense of Spanish colonialism led to the creation of the AGI as a tool for modern historiography. The study highlights the violence inherent in the formation of such institutions, linking it to broader geopolitical struggles of imperial sovereignty and the shift from nomological to historiographical methods.

Nemser, D. (2015). Eviction and the archive: materials for an archaeology of the Archivo General de Indias. Journal of Spanish Cultural Studies, 16(2), 123–141. https://doi.org/10.1080/14636204.2015.1069075