Carolyne R. Larson. Our Indigenous Ancestors

Our Indigenous Ancestors: A Cultural History of Museums, Science, and Identity in Argentina, 1877–1943 is an important addition to recent studies about the links between nationhood and science in Argentina, a historiography that has produced innovative research in the last ten years. Carolyne R. Larson locates her work in the field of cultural history, which she describes as an interest in addressing “the idea that human life is about meaning” (7). With this goal in mind, she sets out to “explore the everyday social life and meaning making [of] the museums and anthropological science” from the 1870s to the 1940s (7). Moreover, while the book deals with science and museums, Larson clarifies that the reader should not expect to find “an institutional museum history, nor is it a scientific history of the discipline of Anthropology” (7). As the introduction makes clear, this is an ambitious book that raises an important question: Can we explain meaning without addressing in detail the context in which this meaning is framed? Or, more precisely, can we understand the development of a scientific culture without explaining the science that made it meaningful and relevant?

Aesthetics · Archaeology · Art · Context (archaeology) · Epistemology · Historiography · History of science · Identity (music) · Indigenous · Meaning (existential) · Social science · Sociology · Anthropology · Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis · History · History of Science and Medicine · Philosophy · Vietnamese History and Culture Studies