Empowering Indigenous Communities for a Sustainable Future
PI: Dr Karen Brown
Researchers in the School of Art History are ensuring secure tourism for indigenous communities in Costa Rica’s remote areas which have poor infrastructure. Through the promotion of their artisan crafts, the project seeks to empower these communities towards a sustainable future by supporting them in promoting their arts and crafts to raise awareness of their culture and way of life.
The project builds upon existing partnerships in the community museums of Costa Rica to strengthen existing indigenous systems of organisation and communal work, making them more resilient to the homogenising forces of globalisation and unethical development.
Working especially with women and young people, the project has successfully documented the distinctive artisan craftsmanship workshops and mapped significant sites of interest for each community and their daily lives in line with community and eco-museum principles.
As each community is at severe risk of natural disasters, project initiatives also contributed towards building community resilience, emergency service participation and internationally recognised training with the International Council of Museums to safeguard not only crafts, but also their tangible and intangible heritage. [Read more]