A tour of the museums of northwestern Mexico: reflections on the pattern of colonial power in a local history

ABSTRACT

This paper aims to analyze how a local history that is built under the pattern of colonial power on the nation's border is vindicated. Through the analysis of the discourses that lie in the main museums of Baja California, Mexico, it is argued that they reproduce a redefined national history according to the understanding of a local history, driven by knowledge that justifies and exalts an evolutionary perspective to define, through socio-cultural classifications, us and others of the territory. It is concluded that local history reproduces and strengthens the idea of value that originates from the dichotomous human / non-human relationship, the central matrix for the modern / colonial / capitalist system.

KEYWORDS:
Museum; Local history; Pattern of colonial power; National project; Border; Baja California