Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etnología
National Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology
The Museum is divided in two collections: the first one is centered on exhibiting the archaeological treasures from the ancient Maya past, such as the fabulous carvings on stone and woods; the second one presents ethnological objects: costumes and scenes from a frozen "present". The configuration of the Museum supports the construction of an idealized pre-hispanic past, a golden age that ceased to exist after the supposed Maya collapse in the 14th century. It is the social belief in Guatemala that the glorious ancient Maya people did not exist when the Spanish colonizers came, which is a racist myth in order to justify social segregation and oppression. The second section of the exhibition consists in less than the 10% of all the objects. Here are some examples of how the exhibition is based on statues and manikin to represent frozen scenes of "contemporary" indigenous people. There are also examples of the traditional clothes which were imposed by the colonizers. The contrast of the glorious Maya past with the frozen present is an example of the aim to whiten the nation, because it nurtures the racist stereotypes, as Casaús Arzú describes in the book "The intellectual Central American Network: a century of imaginary of the nation".
While considering the possible venues to organize the project Whitemess, we thought about museums which already had the agenda to create awareness and sensibility towards racism, such as the International Slavery Museum. I came to think about which would be the proper place in Guatemala. As the context has to do with a colonial regime that later evolved into a white ladino elite governing an indigenous majority, I couldn't stop having the question what is the purpose of the ethnology museum nowadays?
