Throughout the spring quarter, undergraduate Karen Rojas, ’25, worked with classmates to carefully curate the exhibit, De la Tierra: Indigenous Ceramics from West Mexico Transcending Time and Space, featuring objects from the Stanford University Archaeology Collections (SUAC).

Her parents are from Ixtlán del Río in the Mexican state of Nayarit where many of the objects originate. “I felt this profound connection to preserving their dignity,” Rojas said. “We can’t consider them as merely research subjects. They’re an extension of other humans who have lived in this world, and we must give them the care that they deserve.”

Rojas wants visitors to be conscious of the communities that created these ceramics. “This exhibit validated that my history can also be taught, and I can contribute to that history rather than someone else telling our story,” Rojas said.

Rojas, an archaeology major with a human biology minor, is among 15 students who curated the exhibit as part of their Introduction to Museum Practice course. The exhibit features approximately 50 objects from two collections: contemporary sculptures made in the 1970s and 80s in Ocumicho, Michoacán, and pre-contact archaeological ceramics from West Mexico that were acquired in the 1940s and 50s through various means, including looting.

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LiPo Ching/Stanford University

Cases in the exhibit, which incorporate objects from both collections, explore themes such as the ethics of collection practices, identity formation, gender dynamics, and authorship, said SUAC Curator and Assistant Director of Collections Danielle Raad, who teaches the course.

Having students curate the exhibit provides a unique hands-on educational experience, Raad said. They learn how to develop ideas for an exhibit, conduct object-based research, design the layout of the display cases, craft interpretive texts that are accessible to different audiences, and install the objects and labels.

“The opinions and ideas of students in the class are integral to the process, and the final exhibit lives out our vision of decolonizing the museum space,” Raad said. “This course is a kind of sandbox where they can put those ideas into practice and make something tangible that falls in line with what they want to do.”

One case in the exhibit delves into signatures and how works are attributed in different cultural contexts. Another showcases a children’s book written in both Spanish and the Indigenous language Purépecha, featuring stories involving diablitos, or little devils, characteristic of the exhibit’s ceramics from Ocumicho.

Raad said the exhibit foregrounds Indigenous communities in Mexico and celebrates creators as artists.

Garion Nicdao, ’25, an archaeology major, worked on an exhibit case highlighting collectors’ tastes from different eras. “We’re telling a story about what circumstances led to people collecting these objects, what circumstances led to people selling these objects, and then ultimately how they even got here,” he said.

The exhibit also asks viewers to consider the most ethical ways to collect items. “I want people to walk away from this with consideration of these kinds of practices,” Nicdao said. “In the end, we’re talking about objects that are incredibly valuable to people, especially those from tombs. Every object has people connected to it and people who made it who existed and still exist.”

Alana Okonkwo, ’26, an archaeology and African American studies major, worked with Rojas on an exhibit case about tumbas de tiro, or shaft tombs, and the underground burial rooms’ role in communities, history, and complications in the context of collections.

The class discussed how museums can be reimagined to be decolonial and empowering for communities, Okonkwo said. “A lot of museums all across the globe are now beginning to recognize that they have collections with very problematic provenance,” she explained.

Some of the handmade objects in the exhibit have thumbprints that have been preserved for hundreds of years, Okonkwo noted. “It brings to life their process and making,” she said. “I hope that people can find a part of themselves in the exhibit by reflecting on how these concepts, realities, and histories relate to their own life and heritage, and how we can build community by being in solidarity with people who are different from ourselves.”

The exhibit, on display until April 2025, is located in the Stanford Archaeology Center at 488 Escondido Mall, Building 500. Members of the public can visit the exhibit from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Thursday, and by appointment on Fridays by contacting SUAC.