Hidden Life of Things

Andean and Amazonian Cultural Artifacts and the Stories They Tell

This collection of Andean and Amazonian cultural artifacts was acquired by the Center for Latin American Studies in Autumn of 2015 through a series of donations and purchases supported by Title VI Federal Funds. It also includes key literature that is paired with each tradition and eventually aims to involve artisan residencies that bring this cultural production to life.

The collection, which is housed in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese (Hagerty 255), provides a resource for more than 40 faculty and graduate students from across campus invested in teaching about and conducting research in the region. Some Andean and Amazonian items appear side by side to suggest shared meaning systems and master tropes across the region.

The collection supports a progressive and growing curriculum on the Andes and Amazonia as well as innovative programming, expanding scholarly resources, active undergraduate and graduate student participation, and interdisciplinary collaborations at The Ohio State University and beyond the OSU campus. It is part of an integrated learning environment for the study of Andean and Amazonian languages and cultures that features activity-based and experiential pedagogies compatible with non-Western traditions and engages prevailing forms of indigenous knowledge, power, resistance, self-determination and ethnogenesis.

Acknowledgements and Collaborations

Special Thanks to the Following Individuals

  • Norman Whitten
    • Professor Emeritus of Anthropology & Latin America Studies
    • Curator of the Spurlock Museum
    • Senior University Scholar
    • Editor of UI Press Series “Interpretations of Culture in the New Millennium,” at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  • Devin Grammon
    • Ph.D. Candidate in Hispanic Linguistics
    • Fulbright-Hays DDRA Fellow
    • Department of Spanish and Portuguese
  • Luis Morató Peña
    • Senior Lecturer Quechua Program
    • Department of Spanish and Portuguese
  • Katherine Martinez
    • Undergraduate Spanish Major (Class of 2016)