#  Measuring Difference 

 



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## **Measuring Difference**

   ![Artwork named Loba Garifuna by Nancy Friedemann Ink on Tyvek and found object](/sites/g/files/omnuum6316/files/styles/hwp_1_1__720x720_scale/public/chsi/files/nancy_friedemann_091624_04.jpg?itok=pBYzC4U9) 

 

*Artwork credit:*   
*Friedemann-Sánchez, Nancy.*   
*Loba Garifuna.*   
*2024, 80" x 40", Ink on Tyvek and found objects,*   
*Courtesy of Instituto de Vision, New York/Bogotá*  
*Photo credit: Larry Gawel*Today, measurement is everywhere. We understand everything around us in inches, degrees, gallons, decibels, and more. But measurements are human inventions. It is through measures that we learn to see difference, to compare the world.

In the Americas, colonial powers introduced new measurements to describe and exploit the “New World.” Existing ways of understanding and explaining the world and our relationship to others were displaced, cementing European measures as norms and tools of authority. Using examples from across the Americas, this bilingual (Spanish and English) exhibit illustrates what—and who—was measured, and how.



 

### Measuring Difference Online Exhibition 

 

Today, measurement is everywhere. We understand everything around us in inches, degrees, gallons, decibels, and more. Scientific instruments help us record precise measurements of what surrounds us. Yet measurements are human inventions. From the earliest societies to today, measures have helped to classify our surroundings. It is also through measures that we learn to compare the world, to see difference.



 [ View the Measuring Difference Online Exhibition arrow\_circle\_right ](https://measuringdifference.hsites.harvard.edu/) 

 



      ![Loba Garifuna by Nancy Friedemann-Sánchez](/sites/g/files/omnuum6316/files/styles/hwp_1_1__480x480/public/2025-06/Nancy_Friedemann_crop-1536x1174-1305359791.jpg?itok=E0ifCkqe) 

 

 

  

 



 

 

 

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#### **MEASURING DIFFERENCE in the Media**

  
[**Harvard exhibit weighs in on history of colonial measurements**](https://prod-chsi.drupalsites.harvard.edu/sites/g/files/omnuum6316/files/2025-01/MD%20The%20Washington%20Post.pdf)**,**   
**The Washington Post, 10/20/2024**  
  
[**At Harvard, taking the measure of what happened when worlds collided**](https://prod-chsi.drupalsites.harvard.edu/sites/g/files/omnuum6316/files/chsi/files/md_boston_globe.pdf)**,**   
**The Boston Globe, 11/26/2024**  
  
[**Read the press release.**](https://hmsc.harvard.edu/2024/09/25/measuring-difference-exhibition-illustrates-what-and-who-was-measured-in-the-new-world/)

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**October 20, 2024 – August 26, 2025**  
**Special Exhibitions Gallery, Science Center 251**



 

 



 

 See also:- [ Past Exhibitions ](/exhibition-status/past-exhibitions)