Destroying to Preserve. Notes on the Museographic Imagination in Mesoamerica
The Indian societies of Eastern Mexico consider that some symbolically potent « autochtonous » artefacts must either enter or stay inside the community, where they remain hidden in places traditionally serving as « indigenous museums ». Others must be rejected and destroyed. The Otomi case will underscore the paradox by which some artefacts are physically eliminated in order to maintain their potency, while others are created for the international tourism market and the « museums of the others ».