Building Stories in Museum Exhibitions: Curatorial Power, Anthropology, and Representations of Latin America Artisans and Indigenous Peoples
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17533/udea.boan.v40n69a4Keywords:
anthropology of museums, Indigenous peoples, Latin America, artisans, representations, museum exhibitions, study up, coloniality, consultations, museum internshipsAbstract
In the context of two internship projects, one at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) in the United States and the other at the Museo Universitario Universidad de Antioquia (MUUA) in Colombia, this article contrasts how artisans and indigenous communities of Latin America are represented in exhibitions. I build on the Study Up and Critical Museum Studies perspective to analyze the colonial roots of museums in both countries and how they are perpetuated or confronted through current exhibition-making. By methodologically collecting ethnographic and archival records, this essay questions the exercise of curatorial power and the role of anthropology, the anthropologist, and subaltern groups.
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