Rostros de Oceanía en el Museo de La Plata: itinerarios de una colección

Abstract

Molding and casting faces, hands, and feet were part of the various knowledge-making strategies of anthropologists since the 19th century. This study focuses on a collection of facial masks obtained by the German anthropologist Otto Finsch from live subjects of native people from Oceania and held by the Museo de La Plata, Argentina. We’ve analysed the materials, archives, and catalogues; also, oral testimonies of museum workers that were in contact with this collection. Firstly, we revise how these masks came to be, how they were acquired by this museum, how they were exhibited and what happened with them after they were removed from the exhibition. Second, we remark on some points of discussion around this collection on the assumption that these materials represent scientific heritage that not only accounts for the history of anthropology and the context in which it was constituted but that it is also feasible to be reactivated into new narratives.