Conservation as a champion for social justice and cultural revitalization within South American Indigenous groups
Europeansâ arrival in the Americas ignited a process of colonization that produced slavery, acculturation, evangelization and the eventual extermination of many American Indigenous groups. This is still manifest in todayâs social invisibility, lack of representation, and persisting stereotypes. South American Indigenous peoples seek articulations of public identities that express their cultural diversity while referring to their historic roots and communicating their contemporaneity. Collections originated by South American Indigenous peoples or related minorities can be used in more democratic articulations of history, and to enhance representation and visibility in society without compromising historic and social context. This thesis explores how conservators may facilitate these processes and how this could transform their discipline. It relates contemporary and recent contexts of conservation to the work of Paulo Freire (also Participatory Action Research advocates and Postcolonialist theorists) to illuminate the formation and maintenance of power structures and their possible reversals. Use of objects and collections is demonstrated with examples like the Bororo of Merure, the TupinambĂĄ of OlivenĂ§a
Franco Peters, M. R.
Conservation as a champion for social justice and cultural revitalization within South American Indigenous groups. Europeansâ arrival in the Americas ignited a process of colonization that produced slavery, acculturation, evangelization and the eventual extermination of many American Indigenous groups. This is still manifest in todayâs social invisibility, lack of representation, and persisting stereotypes. South American Indigenous peoples seek articulations of public identities that express their cultural diversity while referring to their historic roots and communicating their contemporaneity. Collections originated by South American Indigenous peoples or related minorities can be used in more democratic articulations of history, and to enhance representation and visibility in society without compromising historic and social context. This thesis explores how conservators may facilitate these processes and how this could transform their discipline. It relates contemporary and recent contexts of conservation to the work of Paulo Freire (also Participatory Action Research advocates and Postcolonialist theorists) to illuminate the formation and maintenance of power structures and their possible reversals. Use of objects and collections is demonstrated with examples like the Bororo of Merure, the TupinambĂĄ of OlivenĂ§a
conservation champion social_justice cultural revitalization within south american indigenous group europeans arrival americas process colonization produce slavery acculturation eventual many american indigenous group still manifest today social invisibility lack representation persist stereotype south american indigenous_people seek articulation public identity_express cultural_diversity refer historic root communicate contemporaneity collections originate south american indigenous_people related minority use democratic articulation history enhance representation visibility society without compromise historic social_context explores conservator may facilitate process could transform discipline relates contemporary recent context conservation work also participatory action advocate theorist illuminate formation_maintenance power structure possible reversal use object collection demonstrate example like