espanolEl presente texto explora la interculturalidad y el cambio social en los siglos XVIII y XIX y arguye sobre la importancia de una perspectiva historica/intercultural al abordar la configuracion de las ruralidades contemporaneas. Examina la conexion entre dos representaciones sociales (rurales) normalmente tenidas como referentes identitarios excluyentes: lo indio y lo campesino, cuyas fricciones determinan las variables del cambio sociocultural. El articulo mostrara como ciertos esencialismos estatales, academicos y comunitarios, soslayan fenomenos tales como el cambio social, la polisemia en los regimenes de representacion, la superposicion de identidades y la importancia de las relaciones interculturales en este contexto. EnglishThis paper is an exploration of intercultural relationships and social change in the 18th and 19th centuries in Colombia. It approaches two social phenomena that have been generally conceived as inversely proportional: processes of “de-indigenization” and the configuration of the Colombian peasantry. This unilinear link invokes an evolutionist interpretation, which has not only prevented an accurate reading of historic intercultural relationships but has also influenced certain contemporary identity dynamics. Essentialisms, from the government, academia and/or communities, overlook the effects of phenomena such as social change, the polysemy of representation regimes, or the overlap of identities.