“Uruguay in Guarani. Missionary indigenous presence” positions as the first travelling international exhibition of Uruguayan archaeology in the history of Spain. This achievement has been the result of the co-production cooperation between the Museum of pre-Columbian and Indigenous Art of Urugya (MAPI) and the Museu Valencià d’Etnologia, and aims to reflect or show the scientific work carried out by the archaeologist Carmen Curbelo together with her team, which has been developed for over 20 years.
11 may 2016
“Uruguay in Guarani. Missionary indigenous presence” positions as the first travelling international exhibition of Uruguayan archaeology in the history of Spain and it is carried out at La Beneficiencia (Valencia). This achievement has been the result of the co-production cooperation between the Museum of pre-Columbian and Indigenous Art of Uruguay (MAPI) and the Museu Valencià d’Etnologia. It aims to reflect or show the scientific work carried out by the archaeologist Carmen Curbelo together with her team, which has been developed for over 20 years from the Programme for the Rescue of Missionary Indigenous Identity (PROPIM) of the Faculty of Humanities and Learning Sciences and the support of the University Centre of Tacuarembó, of the University of the Republic (Uruguay).
This exhibition is curated by Luis Bergatta and has been carried out with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Eastern Republic of Uruguay, which has confirmed in several occasions, as we can see, the commitment of MAPI in its insistence for being a bridge that makes possible the dissemination of the academic production towards the joint of the community. At this point, it seeks and bets for promoting the revaluation and the knowledge on the original groups of Uruguay, a nation that has no clear indigenous groups that have maintained continuously their cultural practices, as it occurs in other countries of South America.
The title chosen, “Uruguay in Guarani”, makes reference to the name of the country in its indigenous origin. Also, it proposes and works for reaffirming the current relation of the current territory of the country with the system of Jesuit Missions that was developed and carried out by the Society of Jesus, as well as other religious orders that existed during the 17th and 18th centuries that participated in such evolution and the cultural legacy that extends to our days.
The exhibition is offered as an interesting invitation to find out about the indigenous missionaries, the important influence and incidence they had in the customs and traditions that today are strongly rooted between Uruguayan people. It is an opportunity to discover another Uruguay: Uruguay in Guarani
