Abstract
The Museo de La Plata first opened in 1889 and, since then, has become an emblem of decimononic museums. Mainly dedicated to the collection, research and exposition of its natural sciences repertorium, it enjoys an important area of Anthropology, along an Ethnography Division boasting approximately five thousand artifacts from diverse regions of the world. This paper brings forward the appraisal of an inclusive experience set at the Museo de La Plata with artifacts from the Gran Chaco ethnographic collection. Through a heritage appropriation practice framed within the methodology of collaborative ethnography, the objects of the Gran Chaco collection are brought to a toba/qom community leader, permitting access to narratives associated to them. Themes as spirituality, nature, the elder, the connection to other communities, among others, appear in an ensemble of discursive associations linking the materiality of the artifacts with memories and ancestral practices. As a result of the experience, a participative catalogue was elaborated connecting scientific and communitary knowledge, as well as generating bridges between past and present in the context of the museum. A novelty at the regional museum level, this type of initiative allows us to reflect upon the possibilities of recontextualization of artifacts by the opening of the collection to new discourses, strengthening the role of the museum as a place of intercultural dialogue.
Presenters
Ana Inés CanzaniPhD Candidate, Ethnographic Division, Museo de La Plata-Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo-Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Participative experience, Dialogical museum, Ethnographic heritage, Collaborative ethnography, Memory
