Reaffirming Museum Collections through Amerindian Cosmologies: The Colombian Case

About This Event

We are hosting Lina María Quintero, who specializes in the archaeometallurgy of pre-Hispanic civilizations within present-day Colombian territory. Her work extends beyond the museum's walls to incorporate Indigenous knowledge, reassessing Western interpretations of pre-Columbian artifacts. Lina examines how the metallurgical processes of gold and platinum alloys were integral to the cosmological perspectives of cultures such as the Zenú in modern-day state of Córdoba, Colombia. The Museo is actively engaging with various disciplines, including anthropology, ornithology, ethology, musicology, ethnomusicology, and eco-critical theory, alongside material culture, through Indigenous and Latin American philosophers from the Andean and Amazonian regions. This interdisciplinary approach aims to contextualize the museum's pieces better, articulating a hybrid ontology that combines Western and Indigenous epistemologies.

Featured Guests

• Lina María Campos, archeologist and curator of the Museo del Oro in Bogotá