In 2024-2025, the Centre supported several projects based on the Latin American collections, led by British Museum colleagues, partner institutions in the UK, and London-based artists. Relying on SDCELAR’s experience working with heritage communities, these supported projects offered an opportunity for the Centre to further strengthen institutional partnerships both at a local and international level.
With a special emphasis on creating bridges between communities, researchers, artists, and the collections, we are happy to have contributed to these projects exploring the worlds of cacao and the cultural, material, and linguistic universes present in Mesoamerican codices. Find out more about our collaborators below and explore each project to learn about how the collections in the museum have played a key role in unearthing discussions around heritage, scientific research, and how these connect with living communities.
Tap into each image to learn more!
Project collaborators: Aaron Sonnenschein, Salvador Galindo Llaguno, Jesus Alejandro Guzman Leyva, Joanne Dyer, Davide Domenici, David Buti and Danny Zborover
Collaborating institutions: California State University Los Angeles, Centre for the Development of Indigenous Languages of Oaxaca, University of Bologna, Italian National Research Council, Scientific Research and AOA Department (British Museum).
The 15th-century Codex Tonindeye-Nuttall is being studied with a focus on empowering dual linguistic education and the knowledge behind colour composition in the Mixtec region. Find out more!
Project collaborators: Sebastián van Doesburg, Jessica Mitzy Reyes Juárez, Joanne Dyer, Danny Zborover, Davide Domenici, and David Buti.
Collaborating institutions: Scientific Research and AOA Department (British Museum), Biblioteca de Investigación Juan de Córdova, Fundación Alfredo Harp Helú, University of Bologna, Italian National Research Council.
The codex Egerton is a unique source for the reconstruction of pre-Hispanic Mixtec personal names, and new scientific imaging will support the creation of didactic booklet for Mixtec speakers. Learn more!
Project collaborators: Kathryn Sampeck, Heriberto Erquicia, Rebecca Stacey, Estelle Praet and Danny Zborover
Collaborating institutions: University of Reading, British Academy, Universidad Pedagógica de El Salvador, Scientific Research and Department of Africa, Oceania and Americas (British Museum)
This collaborative project is conducting scientific research into the history of chocolate in Izalco, El Salvador, by reviewing its collection using evidence from material culture related to cacao. This project was made possible thanks to the collaboration and generosity of the Indigenous community of Izalco. Read more!
Project collaborators: Kathryn Sampeck, Carla D. Martin, José López Ganem, Rebecca Stacey, Estelle Praet, Iraní Córdova, Alejandro de Ávila and Danny Zborover
Collaborating institutions: University of Reading, Scientific Research and Department of Africa, Oceania and Americas (British Museum), Institute for Cacao and Chocolate Research, Ethnobiological Garden of Oaxaca
The British Museum stewards a fascinating collection of materials related to the ancestral production, consumption and trade of cacao in Mesoamerica. Continue reading!
Publications related to women’s and maternal health with Wixárika communities by the author of this exhibition
Gamlin, Jennie B. (2013)
Shame as a barrier to health seeking among indigenous Huichol migrant labourers: An interpretive approach of the “violence continuum” and “authoritative knowledge”
Social Science and Medicine 97 75-81
Gamlin, Jennie B. (2023)
Wixárika Practices of Medical Syncretism: An Ontological Proposal for Health in the Anthropocene
Medical Anthropology Theory 10 (2) 1-26
Gamlin, Jennie B. (2020)
“You see, we women, we can’t talk, we can’t have an opinion…”. The coloniality of gender and childbirth practices in Indigenous Wixárika families
Social Science and Medicine 252, 112912
Jennie Gamlin and David Osrin (2020)
Preventable infant deaths, lone births and lack of registration in Mexican indigenous communities: health care services and the afterlife of colonialism
Ethnicity and Health 25 (7)
Jennie Gamlin and Seth Holmes (2018)
Preventable perinatal deaths in indigenous Wixárika communities: an ethnographic study of pregnancy, childbirth and structural violence BMC
Pregnancy and Childbirth 18 (Article number 243) 2018
Gamlin, Jennie B. and Sarah J Hawkes (2015)
Pregnancy and birth in an Indigenous Huichol community: from structural violence to structural policy responses
Culture, health and sexuality 17 (1)
