The Museum Studies Program is proud to co-sponsor Visualizing Care: Storytelling as Data Visualization at MohenjoDaro.

Set in the World Heritage Site of MohenjoDaro (Sindh, Pakistan), Visualizing Care approaches archaeological data visualization through deep mapping. Experimenting with multimodal and accessible forms of archaeological data presentation, this study explores how care through time can be documented. Within an archaeological context, the materiality of care can be seen through the intentional making/unmaking of urban design, architectural features, and infrastructure. Within a historical and contemporary framework, care can be visualized through conservation and the relationships between caretakers and the site itself, drawing attention to the affective aspects of archaeological research. This transdisciplinary project utilizes archival material, LiDAR and 3-dimensional artifact captures, ethnographic conversations, GIS mapping, sound, and experiments with mudbrick, to explore the many different ways of knowing the ancient city of MohenjoDaro.

Dr. Uzma Z. Rizvi is Professor of Anthropology and Urban Studies, in the Department of Social Science and Cultural Studies, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY. She is also a visiting faculty at Shah Abdul Latif University in Khairpur, Pakistan. Rizvi’s work intentionally interweaves archaeology with cultural criticism, philosophy, critical theory, art, and design. With over two decades of work on decolonizing methodologies, intersectional and feminist strategies, and transdisciplinary approaches, her work has intentionally pushed disciplinary limits, and demanded ethical decolonial praxis at all levels of engagement, from teaching to research. She is the PI of the Laboratory for Integrated Archaeological Visualization and Heritage (liavh.org), currently working at the 3rd millennium BCE world heritage site of MohenjoDaro, Pakistan.