The town of Cuetzalan del Progreso is the capital of a large municipality whose population (approximately 50,000 inhabitants) mostly speaks an eastern variant of Nahuatl. This is the language that the rulers of central Mexico (presently known as the Aztecs) spread throughout much of Mesoamerica in pre-Hispanic times and which is still used today by 1.65 million indigenous Mexicans. The Maseualmej (or Nahua) people of this part of the Northern Sierra of Puebla are the guardians of a vibrant culture that combines a wealth of naturalistic, therapeutic, and culinary knowledge with unique handicrafts and an intense ceremonial life, in which traditional dances stand out as a true symbol of the indigenous population’s identity. The Italian Ethnological Mission in Mexico of Sapienza University of Rome began its investigations in this region in 1980 and, starting in 2020, undertook a collaborative project aimed at returning recently digitized ethnographic materials (photos, videos, audio recordings, narrative and ritual texts, etc.) and promoting the native language and cultural practices. It also carries out several participatory initiatives aimed at welcoming artifacts representative of the Nahua cultural tradition into Italian museums.

The Otomi are one of the largest indigenous groups in Mexico. Their language belongs to the Oto-Manguean language family and is spoken by around 300,000 people today, divided into nine recognised variants. The eastern Otomi, known as the N’yuhú, live in the Hidalgo region of the Sierra Madre Oriental. This area ranges from the high mountains of Tenango de Doria to the hills of the San Bartolo Tutotepec and Huehuetla municipalities. Having settled in this area between the 12th and 13th centuries, they established close relations with their Totonachi, Nahua and Tepehua neighbours. Their relative isolation and the absence of ceremonial centres during the early colonial period slowed Spanish penetration, but did not prevent profound and systematic evangelisation.

The Upper Rio Negro locates in the Brazilian Amazon on the boarder with Colombia and Venezuela. It hosts 23 Indigenous peoples who speak 19 languages and strive daily to protect their cultural and territorial autonomy. Italian museums preserve many artefacts from this area, which have disappeared locally due to colonial pressures. Indigenous representatives seek for their return either physical or virtual to pass on ancestral knowledge to future generations. The KNOT project, through the mediation of the anthropologists Anna Bottesi and Renato Athias, allowed to establish a bridge between the Missionary Ethnological Museum of Colle Don Bosco (MEM) in the province of Asti (which houses a large collection from the Rio Negro) and the Federation of Indigenous Organisations of the Rio Negro (FOIRN), the principal Indigenous association in the region. The collaboration resulted in the creation of 3D-models of four shamanic objects and in the International Seminar “Libertando os Ancestrais: a volta dos artefatos xamânicos para o Rio Negro”.

Paraguay currently has 19 different indigenous groups belonging to five different linguistic families. According to the 2022 census, Paraguay’s indigenous population is estimated at 140,206 individuals. In addition to the Zamuco family, which includes the ancient Chamacoco (now Yshir) people and the Ayoreo, the following linguistic families are present in the region today: Guaycuru: Toba Qom (Qom Lik); Guaraní: Pa’i Tavytera, Western Guaraní (Guarayo, Chiriguano), Guaraní Ñandeva, Aché, Avá Guaraní, Mbyá; Maskoi: Toba Maskoy, Sanapaná, Angaité, Guaná, Enxet Sur and Enlhet Norte; Mataco-Maká: Nivaqlé, Makà, Choroti, Manjui.

We are in Alto Paraguay-Upper Paraguay at the time of Guido Boggiani (1861-1901). Boggiani’s collection of artefacts is now largely housed in the Museum of Civilisation in Rome. We visited the community of Fuerte Olimpo (composed of Yshir-Ybytoso living between Virgen Santísima and Abundancia) where he stayed. We shared time and worked on the virtual restitution of images of artefacts from the collection.

The Fuegian region is made up of an archipelago now divided between Argentina and Chile, historically inhabited by several Indigenous societies: Yagán, Kawésqar, Selk’nam and Haush. The violent processes of colonization, which continued into the early decades of the twentieth century, threatened the very existence of these peoples. Today, descendants and present-day communities are reclaiming their histories, languages and memories, giving rise to a significant cultural revitalization, also through material culture passed down from generation to generation. In this sense, contemporary craftsmanship plays a central role as a means of transmitting knowledge, ensuring cultural continuity, and reaffirming identity, embodying the deep connection between territory and related practices. The KNOT project has established a dialogue with representatives of the Selk’nam and Yagán communities, officially recognized by the Argentine state, to share and co-construct knowledge around the Fuegian Indigenous artifacts currently preserved in Italian institutions.