Representation and discourses of otherness : coca leaf and mambear in the Museum of America : (de)colonial thought and indigenous perspectives

Abstract

This dissertation investigates how the Museum of America in Madrid represents the Indigenous practice of mambear, often reducing it to stereotypes of drug use and exoticism rooted in colonial narratives. Such portrayals obscure its cultural, spiritual, and social meanings, reinforcing the marginalisation of Indigenous voices. The study pursues two aims: to critically analyse the museum’s discursive construction of mambear, and to explore alternative frameworks that support decolonial understandings of the practice. Grounded in postcolonial and decolonial theory and museum studies, it calls for more inclusive and critical representations that challenge the colonial legacies embedded in institutional discourse.