This article analyses the resistance of the malfín and andalgalá indigenous groups from a long-term perspective. These people, protagonists of the southern ‘Great Diaguita Uprising’ of 1630, despite been defeated and resettled continued resisting, and elaborated creative responses to the colonial domination. The aim of this article is to analyse the role of the collective memory in several disputes over land access. I will examine three junctures where the indigenous, through their ethnic authorities, resignify and recreate the bond with the territories from which they were expelled. The relationship between identities, territory and memories will be studied, emphasizing the native agency and their strategies of negotiation and resistance. We will see that the changes caused by the denaturalizations generated a propitious context for the reconfiguration of their identities.