Mari Lyn Salvador (16 June 1943 – 23 October 2017[1]) was an American anthropologist, known for her work on Panamanian molas, worn by Kuna women.
Salvador started college as an art student focusing on weaving and pottery at San Francisco State University.
She followed the work of Lila O'Neale and Nelson H. H. Graburn, using analysis of ethnoaesthetics to understand the art of Kuna women from the perspective of the individual artists within the framework of their own culture.
[8] Following completion of her PhD in 1976,[9] Salvador taught at University of the Azores in Portugal, while on a Fulbright scholarship to study native religious celebrations called festas.
[13] In 2009, Salvador was appointed to the directorship of the Hearst Museum of Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley, a post which she held until July 2015.