My research focuses on how interpretations of the pre-colonial past shape the formation of Mexico as an imagined community. I am interested in how foreign and local scientific travelers and intellectuals re semanticized objects and created narratives based on the cultural materials they collected from indigenous societies in Mexico. I examine the ways these collections and interpretative narratives become institutionalized as the nation's cultural heritage. My epistemic approach uses museological theories to study the primary texts written by scientific travelers and applies an interdisciplinary lens, including literary theory, to analyze exhibitions of cultural materials in Mexican museums. My interdisciplinary approach draws from museum studies, literary theory, postcolonial theory, cultural studies, anthropology, object theory, ethno-archaeology, and spatial theory.
keywords
Cultural heritage collections, humanities, museum studies, women and gender in galleries, scientific travelers’ literature, galleries, libraries, archives, and museums (GLAM), and decoloniality
