Mapping a New Museum Politics and Practice of Latin American Research with the British Museum

Mapping a New Museum seeks to rethink the museum’s role in today’s politically conscious world. Presenting a selection of innovative projects that have taken place in Latin America over the last year, the book begins to map out possibilities for the future of the global museum. The projects featured within the pages of this book were all supported by The Santo Domingo Centre of Excellence for Latin American Research (SDCELAR) at the British Museum (BM), with the aim of making the BM’s Latin American collections meaningful to communities in the region and others worldwide. These projects illustrate how communities manage cultural heritage and, taken together, they suggest that there is also no all-encompassing counter-narrative that can be used to "decolonise" museums. Reflecting on, and experimenting with, the ways that research happens within museum collections, the interdisciplinary collaborations described within these pages have used collections to tell stories that destabilise societal assumptions, whilst also proactively seeking out that which has historically been overlooked. The result is, the book argues, a research environment that challenges intellectual orthodoxy and values critical and alternative forms of knowledge. Mapping a New Museum contains English and Spanish versions of every chapter, which enables the book to put critical stress on the self-referentiality of Anglophone literature in the field of museum anthropology. The book will be essential reading for students, scholars and museum practitioners working around the world.

The Museum as Institution - El museo como institución Jago Cooper & Laura Osorio Sunnucks Non/Institutional Interventions - Intervenciones no / institucionales Laura Osorio Sunnucks Paths to the Past through Oca'õ, Agõkabuk and Munduruku Material Culture - Pasos al pasado a través de Oca’õ, Agõkabuk y el material cultural Munduruku Jair Boro Munduruku Under the shelter: Archaeology in the Caves of Rurópolis, Amazonia, Brazil - Bajo el refugio: arqueología en las cuevas de Rurópolis, Amazonía, Brasil Vinicius Honorato Colombian Amazon: the Millenary History of Serranía la Lindosa painted on its walls - Amazonia colombiana: la historia milenaria de la Serranía La Lindosa dibujada en sus paredes Francisco Aceituno, Gaspar Morcote-Ríos, José Iriarte & Mark Robinson Assessing Holocene Coastal Environmental Dynamics in North Western Guyana - Evaluando las dinámicas ambientales de la costa del noroeste de Guyana en el Holoceno Louisa Daggers A Review of Guyana’s Amerindian Heritage Month on its Twenty-Fifth Anniversary - Una revisión del Mes del Patrimonio Amerindio de Guyana en su vigésimo quinto aniversario Romona Bennett Afro-Peruvian Zapateo: Ritual, Challenge and Language - Zapateo afroperuano: ritual, desafío y lenguaje Juan Felipe Miranda Medina & Walter Manrique Cervantes Tomorrow: Presidential Message - Mañana: Mensaje presidencial Nereida Apaza Mamani Invisible Homeland, an Artist Residency at the British Museum - Pátria invisible, una residencia artística en el Museo Británico Nereida Apaza Mamani, Laura Osorio Sunnucks & María de las Mercedes Martínez Milantchí Journal of Travel and Tours at the British Museum - Un diario de viajes y recorridos dentro del Museo Británico Nicolas Grum London "A-Z" - Londres "A-Z" Nereida Apaza Mamani Huwe Moshi (Coral Snake) - Huwe Moshi (Serpiente Coral) Sheroanawe Hakiihiwe Untitled - Sin título Feliciano Lana Digital Repatriation of Biocultural Collections: Connecting Scientific and Indigenous Communities of Knowledge in Amazonia - Repatriación digital de colecciones bioculturales: conectando comunidades científicas e indígenas de conocimiento en la Amazonía Luciana Martins Genocide Collections at the British Museum: House of Shadows, Basket of Seeds - Colecciones del genocidio en el Museo Británico: casa de sombras, cesto de semillas Oscar Román-Jitdutjaaño, Alicia Sánchez, Juan Alvaro Echeverri, Ana Maytik Avirama, Laura Osorio Sunnucks, María de las Mercedes Martínez Milantchí & Maria Fernanda Esteban Palma Decolonising the Representation of the Camënsta People at the Museum. Developments in the Bëngbe Benacheng project - Descolonizando la representación del pueblo Camëntsá en el museo. Avances del Proyecto Bëngbe Benacheng Marcelo Marques Miranda & Jully Acuña Suárez, con el Colectivo Ayentš Unfolding Maya Blue - Descubriendo el Azul Maya Lorena Ancona Technological Continuity & Innovation through the Archaeology of Mona Island, Puerto Rico - Continuidad tecnológica e innovación a través de la arqueología en la isla de Mona, Puerto Rico María de las Mercedes Martínez Milantchí Sovereign Practices of a Women’s Agriculture in San Basilio de Palenque, Colombia: "Peanuts taste like heaven to me" - Prácticas soberanas de la agricultura femenina en San Basilio de Palenque, Colombia: "El maní me sabe a cielo" Amber Henry & Basilia Pérez Márquez Shitikari (Skyscape) - Shitikari (Cielo de estrellas) Sheroanawe Hakihiiwe Short Epilogue - Breve epílogo Chris Gosden

Laura Osorio Sunnucks is Head of the Santo Domingo Centre of Excellence for Latin American Research. She curated the exhibition "Arts of Resistance: Politics and the Past in Latin America" at the Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia, and is a Trustee of the UK/Mexican Arts Society. Jago Cooper is Director of the Santo Domingo Centre of Excellence for Latin American Research and Head of the Americas Section at the British Museum.