Interweaved Stories of Resistance: A 1985 Ethnographic Collection in Puerto Rico

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

In December 2019, the University of Puerto Rico's Museo de Historia, Antropología y Arte, received as a donation the Waiwai Ethnographic Collection (CRGW), which has survived multiple natural disasters. The CRGW was created by the Centro de Investigaciones Indígenas de Puerto Rico (CIIPR) as the result of an ethnographic expedition undertaken in 1985 in Guyana, South America. Its purpose was to gather information associated with the Waiwai people, direct descendants among the first inhabitants of the Caribbean. The CRGW holds objects that resemble those produced by the first inhabitants of the Caribbean, making it the only collection of its kind known in Puerto Rico. After the accessioning, rehousing, and registration process was completed, a research project focused on ethnoarchaeology was conducted. Photographs were digitized, a database of the collection's associated documentation was created, and frottage of the diverse patterns related to its basketry and textiles was recorded. The methodological approach focused on iconographic and historical analysis of photographs, the survey of weave patterns in perishable objects, and an analysis of ethnographic and archaeological collections. The importance of non-invasive research with archaeological and ethnographical collections sheds light on creating narrations that visibilize the historical networks in which the Caribbean lies today.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 37136.0