Ethnomuseology: from collection to exhibition.

Abstract

Anthropologists attached to museum often wonder: what is the point of badly documented kept ethnographic collections, piled up in dusty museum back-rooms, threatened by mildew and termite infestation? It is true that they represent the heritage American aborigènes left to the nations built upon their territory. However, how to extract from these bumb objects, lacking any subsidiary data, some scientific, cultural and symbolic information? This article inquires answers to some of these questions.