From what is Agenciated to what is Represented. The Transformation of Objects between the Teenek of the Huasteca Potosina

Abstract

The objective of this text is discuss how the concepts of agency and representation operate in a set of objects from Teenek culture of San Luis Potosi arranged to be incorporated into the ethnographic collection of the National Museum of Anthropology. Using the ethnographic method, will be examined their elaboration processes and their importance in the rituals of the communities, to later notice their transformation in museum artifacts. In the examples analyzed, agency is conceptualized in terms of force, life, power, and wisdom. One pending for the investigation was to document what happened to the objects after their assembly and exhibition, phases that are still in process. The value of this work lies in showing the processes of reflection originated in the communities themselves regarding the cultural property that should select as exhibition materials. In the end will be seen that the concepts of agency and representation are relational and transitory, they are in redefinition depending on the contexts, functions and intentions deposited in the objects.