Synopsis:

This talk moves between two interconnected themes. The first offers a snapshot of the heritage industry in Oaxaca, particularly the  relationship between the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), art collectors, and local Indigenous communities. The second expands outwards, drawing on the digital repatriation project I've been directing in Mitla, Este Lugar Tiene Muchas Historias / Lajtre Yuduxh Rextiixni, to explore broader themes of dispossession, repatriation, and decolonization in Oaxaca and beyond.

Presenter:

Dr Hilary Morgan V. Leathem is a writer, curator, and anthropologist of heritage. She holds a PhD in Anthropology (2022) from the University of Chicago and her research explores how Zapotec and Mixtec people form social and emotive relations with heritage sites, highlighting tensions between state possession and Indigenous dispossession.