Cursed sciences? Assyriology and Egyptology: colonial metaphors, objects, and museums from South America

ABSTRACT This paper discusses how the construction of colonial metaphors from the mid-19th century in the Western world favored the foundation of the new imperialist order that promoted the political and economic domination of Asia and Africa and the looting of the cultural property of native peoples. These metaphors were embraced not only by members of the ruling class, but also by those belonging to the intelligentsia of the time, especially from the gestation of the so-called Ancient Near Eastern Studies. The confiscation of cultural objects from subject regions grounded the formation of the European and North American museums, whose collector model was emulated by the elites of South America.