In the last decades, a revolution has taken place regarding the role of the museum within our modern society. As a result, an increasing number of indigenous communities are becoming aware of their...Show moreIn the last decades, a revolution has taken place regarding the role of the museum within our modern society. As a result, an increasing number of indigenous communities are becoming aware of their material representation in museums and inaccuracies therein. In reaction, the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford decided to retrieve their ten tsantsas, or ‘shrunken heads’ from their museum display. After the removal, reactions on (social) media blew up with many comments criticising the museum’s judgements. This thesis has analysed comments from different (social) media platforms and specifically focussed on their sentiments. In doing so it has employed the Bull’s Eye Model, created to look at the sender, message and receiver within communication systems. This thesis has been observing the way popular culture has influenced the presentation of the Shuar culture and tsantsa ritual. A rubric has been designed that analysed the presentation and misinformation presented in films, novels, and games. Lastly, the original documentation of the tsantsas by their collectors has been analysed in comparison to accounts from present day Shuar. The decolonisation processes within museums like the Pitt Rivers shed light on a vital change within the museum world and the close collaboration with indigenous communities will prove to create better informed exhibitions and transfer of knowledge.Show less
The term “Latin America” is used as the common denominator that encompasses a large region with several countries whose traditions, language, and colonial background share a set of common...Show moreThe term “Latin America” is used as the common denominator that encompasses a large region with several countries whose traditions, language, and colonial background share a set of common characteristics. The paper explores the meaning of Latin American archaeology through the examples of Peruvian and Argentinian national archaeologies—the historical development of both countries and their respective archaeologies from the Colonial period to the present. The countries are first analyzed separately with a focus on their socioeconomic status and the influx of foreign theoretical trends and their impact on the development of archaeology within the context of colonialism and post-colonialism. At the beginning of the twentieth century the focus shifts on onto the “functioning” of archaeology through its legislative frameworks, university training programmes, and public archaeology. These elements are used to compare the archaeologies of Peru and Argentina to reveal their characteristic, and potentially the way in which colonialism and subsequent historical events pushed the development of archaeology. Four cases are presented with the intention of providing insight into how the theory is applied in practice. It was concluded that the pre-colonial history of the countries and their subsequent treatment significantly impacted the development of two markedly different national archaeologies who appear similar in theory but diverge in practice—when the current situation of archaeological practice and the most rudimentary elements keeping “Latin America” together are put into perspective, the archaeologies of the two countries appear to have less in common than they do at first glance.Show less
Ever since the world became aware of ancient Panamá’s archaeological remains, archaeologists have been fascinated by the intricate designs exhibited on its stones, ceramics, and gold work. This...Show moreEver since the world became aware of ancient Panamá’s archaeological remains, archaeologists have been fascinated by the intricate designs exhibited on its stones, ceramics, and gold work. This interest increased and formalised with the discovery of a rich graphic repertoire at Sitio Conte in the 1930s, and a subsequent rising concern with the worldview of Panamá's pre-contact population. The study of Central Panamanian iconography thus acquired growing importance. With the advancing significance of this subject, however, interpretations remained highly subjective, and in lack of a structured methodological approach. This situation has prompted the author to review the reasons underlying these shortcomings, a procedure that, in turn, has led to a contemplation of the cognitive origins of iconography. Building on the latter insights, the author proceeds to evaluate the effectiveness of typical approaches of iconographical inquiry, finding that none of the existing methods is sufficiently flexible, or scalable, for application to a pre-literate context. Consequently, a new, five-step methodology is contrived, which efficacy is tested by putting its first two stages into practice with reference to a case-study of Macaracas-style imagery. As such, this thesis does not just deal with the theoretical and methodological difficulties of doing iconographic research, but also highlights some interesting peculiarities of Central Panamanian imageries.Show less
