Photo by Leeloo The First on Pexels.com

What do you think about it? Be honest about shortcomings, challenges, and uncertainties? Being  that  this  is  part  two  of  my  internship,  it  has  been  completely  different from  part  one. I  love  the  work  that  I  am  doing  as  well  as  the  challenges  that  it  brought during  the  summer.  Although  it  was  and  could  be  overwhelming,  I  found  that  going  one  object  at  a  time  was  the  best  way  to  start,  especially  because  I am  already  familiar  with  Meso-American history  and  culture from  my  anthropology  course  in  undergrad,  that’s  where  I  decided to  start.  As  time  has  gone  on,  the  challenges  that  now present  themselves  are  the  fact  that  borders have  been  ever-changing as  well  as  who  has  occupied  these  spaces  at  particular times.  To whom or  to  what people  should  these  artifacts go  back  ? Are  we  allowed  to have  these  objects or  take photos without  desecrating a  belief system?

Are you running into any problems that are making the experience less than you had hoped? No,  if  anything,  I  am  gaining  way  more  than  I  had  hoped. I  knew this  would  be  challenging  from  the  start,  but I  never  would  have  thought  to  be writing a  paper  about  it  and  or  presenting it  at  a  conference.  Not  only  this,  but  the expanding  of  communication  that  comes  along  with  the project whether  it  is with  other museum  professionals  or  professors  from  across  the  country  is  something  I  did  not  think  I  was  able  to  do. Never  would  I  have  thought  that  they  would  take  me  seriously as  well.

Does the experience remind you of anything you discussed in your classes?  The  classes  that connect with  this  internship   are  my  anthropology  classes in  undergrad,  collections  management and  Dr.  Gatson’s  material  culture course.

Does it lead to any new thoughts about the field and your place within it? I  do  think  that  perhaps  a  museum  space may  not  be  the  place  for  me,  but  instead an organization that  focuses  on  this type  of  work;  even  if  it  is an  anthropology or  archaeology  center.

Finally, what are you learning and what do you want to learn in these next two weeks? This will help you stay laser-focused on skill-building. Again, since  this  is  part  two  of  my  internship, it  has  been  months  that  I  have  been  working  on  this project. There  not  anything  particularly new  that  I  am  learning,  but  I  am  having  to  get  out  of  my  comfort zone cold calling people  or  reaching  out  to other  professionals that  have  decades  of  experience  in this  field which  can  be  intimidating.