Abstract
The KNOT research project aims at producing a new understanding of the Indigenous American Heritage preserved in Italy and to have an impact on how it is displayed and narrated to the public. Although Italian polities were never directly involved in the colonization of the Americas, Italy has been for centuries a node of intellectual networks of missionaries, travelers, collectors, and scholars whose activities left tangible evidence in the form of artifacts, manuscripts and books held in Italian museums, archives, and libraries. Over the centuries, these “objects” crossed different epochs and regimes of values, being collected, exchanged, and studied by a variety of social actors, so that a multiplicity of historical trajectories and colonial/neo-colonial projects and discourses are inscribed into their long social lives. Notwithstanding their relevance, the entangled cultural biographies of the objects constituting the Indigenous American Heritage in Italy were often neglected by contemporary historiography and museum anthropology. To fill this void, the KNOT project will explore the cultural biographies of a selected group of case studies, each one focusing on specific “objects” (or collections) from various regions of what is now Latin America. Their study will be carried out in a decidedly multidisciplinary way, conjoining historical investigations with non-invasive material analyses of artifacts and documents, as well as with the ethnographic scrutiny of their value, meaning and fruition by contemporary indigenous communities. The knowledge thus generated will be disseminated into the public sphere to arouse a new understanding of the Indigenous American Heritage in Italy among the scholarly community and various sectors of the civil society. Open access publications, workshops, one conference and the KNOT Virtual Museum, i.e., a collaborative online integrated system of study and fruition, will be produced as forms of knowledge sharing and public engagement. Proposals on actual forms of museum display, in strict cooperation with selected Italian ethnographic museums, will also be produced, to conceive respectful handling and displaying strategies, fostering more decolonized and socially responsible forms of management, fully tackling complex issues of responsibility, stewardship, and ownership. The project’s outcomes will foster a critical reflection on the peculiar Italian involvement in colonial processes, so helping Italian institutions to engage in the now-flourishing international debates over the management and public fruition of Indigenous heritage. Results Achieved The members of the Bologna unit have conducted research on several case studies, each focused on Indigenous American artefacts preserved in Italian museums and cultural institutions. Davide Domenici investigated the cultural biography of Mesoamerican artefacts that arrived in Italy during the early modern period (now held in various Italian museums), also coordinating the non-invasive scientific analysis campaigns carried out by colleagues from the CNR unit. Anna Bottesi produced an interpretive study of Amazonian artefacts from the Museo Etnologico Missionario Don Bosco (Asti) in collaboration with indigenous communities of the upper Río Negro (Brazil), also contributing to the 3D modelling activities of the objects conducted by CNR colleagues. Zelda Franceschi and Francesca Caterina Fidanza studied featherwork artefacts from the Argentine Chaco (MUCIV, Rome) in collaboration with indigenous communities of the Chaco itself. Chiara Scardozzi explored the history and meanings of artefacts from Tierra del Fuego (Museo Etnologico Missionario Don Bosco) in collaboration with descendants of Fuegian indigenous communities, also contributing to the 3D modelling activities conducted by CNR colleagues. Cecilia Pennacini conducted research on a Taíno cemí from the Museo di Antropologia ed Etnologia (MAET) of the University of Turin, also contributing to the 3D modelling activities carried out by CNR colleagues. All of the above-mentioned research, in addition to resulting in specific scholarly publications, has given rise to corresponding "Routes" on the KNOT online platform (knotproject.it), where the case studies are presented in the form of scrollytelling. In some cases (Domenici, Bottesi, Scardozzi), the creation of the route involved the semantic annotation of 3D models on the ATON platform. Beyond the analysis of individual case studies, Davide Domenici and Anna Bottesi, in collaboration with museum staff, compiled a census of collections of Indigenous American objects held in Italian museums and of the collectors associated with them, the results of which are presented in the "Museums" and "Collectors" sections of the KNOT online platform. All members of the Bologna unit also contributed to drafting the texts for additional sections of the platform. The research findings will be published, among other venues, in the volume Codex Cospi. Life and Meaning of a Mesoamerican Manuscript (BUB–Pendragon), edited by Davide Domenici, and in a special issue of the journal L'UOMO (Class A, area 11/A5), both scheduled for publication by 2026.
Dettagli del progetto
Responsabile scientifico: Davide Domenici
Strutture Unibo coinvolte:
Dipartimento di Storia Culture Civiltà
Coordinatore:
"Sapienza" Universita' Di Roma(Italy)
Contributo totale Unibo: Euro (EUR) 56.798,00
Durata del progetto in mesi: 24
Data di inizio
17/10/2023
Data di fine:
28/02/2026
