Paper short abstract:

This methods paper reflects on ways in which museum-based anthropology & community-based research intersect, especially via co-research relationships in which the co-identification of barriers of online databases are shared & strategies for accessing information in databases are co-created.

Paper long abstract:

This methods paper reflects on cooperative anthropological research done between myself, a white Ph.D. researcher, and members of three Q'eqchi' weaving cooperatives in the Alta Verapaz of Guatemala. The research was focused on the presence of Q’eqchi’ textiles, specifically picb’il textiles, in US, UK, and German museums & led to the collaborative development of community-specific digital repatriation processes; allowing the community access to lost heritage contained as museum-held objects that are too fragile to physically repatriate. Small group community education courses on accessing and using online museum databases, overcoming some of the specific barriers highlighted during the co-creation process, and allowing my co-creators and researchers to carry out their own ongoing research into what materials from their communities are held in museums outside of Guatemala.

The process of carrying out this research collaboratively with the local community uncovered industry-specific barriers to access and worked towards resolving the skills and knowledge gap preventing access to heritage objects held by museums in colonizing countries. The development of individual relationships within that community were shown to be key to the co-research and digital repatriation process.

The co-creation process highlighted specific barriers (language, internet access, specificity of search terms) that limited community knowledge of and access to objects held by museums in colonizing countries. It highlighted the importance of specific and individual relationships in the co-research and digital repatriation process and the ongoing impact of resource inequity on communities seeking to find and reclaim their heritage objects