{"id":471713,"date":"2023-03-27T15:45:42","date_gmt":"2023-03-27T18:45:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/?p=471713"},"modified":"2023-03-30T16:23:01","modified_gmt":"2023-03-30T19:23:01","slug":"ethnographic-museums-reframe-collections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/ethnographic-museums-reframe-collections\/","title":{"rendered":"Ethnographic museums reframe collections"},"content":{"rendered":"

Driven by advances in scientific knowledge and dialogue with social movements, the start of the twenty-first century also marked a moment of transformation in the management of ethnographic collections. Established in the colonial period, often with pieces looted or removed without consent, the collections of these museums have come to be understood as the heritage of all. This change in view has led institutions to rethink their types of curation, identifying new meanings for these objects.<\/p>\n

See more:<\/strong>
\n– Brazilian museums propose new curatorial approaches<\/a>
\n– History museums discover treasures in technical archives<\/a><\/div>\n

For around three decades, museologist Mar\u00edlia Xavier Cury, of the Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology of the University of S\u00e3o Paulo (MAE-USP), has worked with ethnographic collections, but it was only in recent years that she developed new strategies for organizing exhibits and collections. \u201cWe are currently in a moment where we no longer talk about Indigenous peoples, but we talk with them instead, in such a way that they themselves do the curation, speaking for themselves,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n

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Ader Gotardo\u2009\/\u2009MAE-USP<\/span>Clothing traditionally used by Kaingang midwives, part of the MAE-USP collectionAder Gotardo\u2009\/\u2009MAE-USP<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

Mar\u00edlia Xavier Cury does not think that the colonialist aspect in the formation of the MAE collections is a reason to scorn them, but defends the need to find new strategies for working with the material. An example was the development of the exhibition Resist\u00eancia j\u00e1 \u2013 Fortalecimento e uni\u00e3o de culturas ind\u00edgenas <\/em>(Resistance now \u2013 Strengthening and uniting Indigenous cultures), inaugurated in 2019 and developed in partnership between the MAE and Kaingang, Guarani Nhandewa, and Terena groups, from the Midwest of the state of S\u00e3o Paulo.<\/p>\n

During the curation process, representatives of these three peoples visited the MAE technical reserve to see the pieces collected between the end of the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century, and were responsible for selecting the exhibited objects, clothing, and photographs. \u201cDuring the development of the work, a Kaingang representative, called Dirce Jorge, looked at a piece that had been ethnographically identified as a sleeveless shirt dress and told us that it was clothing traditionally used by the midwives of his people,” says Mar\u00edlia. \u201cCollaborative solutions and dialogue with Indigenous peoples mean it is possible to reclassify and uncover extended meanings, bringing life to the pieces, and humanizing collections,\u201d she highlights, remembering that the archaeological and ethnographic collection of the MAE, which besides Brazil includes cultures from the Americas and the Middle East since before 1500, gained prominence on the national scene after the National Museum fire, in 2018.<\/p>\n

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Ciete Silv\u00e9rio<\/span>Painting by Daiara Tukano, from the exhibition Nhe\u2019\u02dce Por\u00e3: Mem\u00f3ria e transforma\u00e7\u00e3o<\/em> at the Museum of the Portuguese LanguageCiete Silv\u00e9rio<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

One of the references for the transformation of the look given to the MAE collection was the organized Indigenous movements in Canada in the 1980s by the Assembly of First Nations, which in 1994 joined with the Canadian Museums Association to publish the document Turning the Page<\/em>, with practical guidance on how to deal with Indigenous collections. Another example is the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), which also changed the relationship of museums in the United States with Indigenous peoples. \u201cMuseums are privileged spaces for bringing academic debates to a wider audience, breaking theoretical circuits,\u201d adds Mar\u00edlia.<\/p>\n

In search of better strategies for socializing the collection, archaeologist and curator Helena Pinto Lima, of the Em\u00edlio Goeldi Museum of Par\u00e1, says that the institution has invited groups of students, Indigenous peoples, and local artists for collaborative works with the collection, inside the technical reserve, which is visitable. \u201cThrough this practice, our technical reserve became a reference for artists, with whom we have developed a work of producing handmade replicas of archaeological pieces,\u201d she says. According to her, the replicas circulate in study and school groups, spreading knowledge about both the archaeology and handicrafts of the region.<\/p>\n

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Luisa D\u00f6rr<\/span>Statues that survived the fire at the National Museum: the institution is rebuilding collections using new approachesLuisa D\u00f6rr<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

Helena considers the process of \u201cinteriorization\u201d\u2014which since 2003 has seen Brazilian federal universities expand to interior regions of the country\u2014as the starting point for this change of perspective, to the extent that it allowed traditional peoples to more effectively occupy spaces of knowledge production which has motivated their transformation. In her opinion, the movement has influenced the Brazilian Archaeology Society, which in November held a meeting with educators, museologists, and archaeologists in Bel\u00e9m, Par\u00e1 State, to rethink collection policies.<\/p>\n

Through dialogue with 50 Indigenous professionals, the Museum of the Portuguese Language (MLP), in turn, has just inaugurated the exhibition Nhe\u2019\u02dce Por\u00e3: Mem\u00f3ria e transforma\u00e7\u00e3o <\/em>(Memory and transformation), about the complexity of the Portuguese language and with the aim of offering information about 274 Indigenous languages spoken by individuals belonging to 305 ethnic groups in Brazil. \u201cAlthough the majority of Brazilians think they live in a monolingual country, we are multilingual. Before the Portuguese arrived, it is calculated that there were around 5 million speakers of approximately 1,000 languages. Many were lost, and today around 40 languages are in imminent danger of disappearing,\u201d says Isa Grinspum Ferraz, special curator of the MLP.<\/p>\n

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Carlos Stein\u2009\/\u2009Vivafoto<\/span>Lithograph Amorda\u00e7ada<\/em>, by Paulo Chimendes, part of the MARGS collection. The museum is expanding its collection of works produced by Black artistsCarlos Stein\u2009\/\u2009Vivafoto<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

The Search for Diversity
\n<\/strong>Art spaces are also rethinking curatorial strategies, as is the case of the Museum of Art of Rio Grande do Sul (MARGS). After conducting a critical review of its collection, which was put together over the course of seven decades, the museum identified that less than three dozen of the over 1,000 represented artists were Black. These artists accounted for a mere 134 of the more than 5,500 works comprising the collection.<\/p>\n

\u201cCollections legitimize and rank existing values and narratives in a history of art that is being critically reviewed, reexamining the Eurocentric and colonizing bases that founded their constitution,\u201d states Francisco Dalcol, director-curator of the institution. As part of this movement, in recent years MARGS has intensified the reflection about exclusions and silencing. At this moment, it is acquiring a set of works by Black artists. \u201cIt is the beginning of a movement. There is much to be done,\u201d evaluates Dalcol. Created in 1954, MARGS boasts a collection that is composed of paintings, sculptures, prints, pottery, drawings, textile art, photographs, installations, and digital art, among others. Some of its best-known paintings are A dama de branco<\/em> (Lady in white, 1906), by painter and decorator Arthur Tim\u00f3theo da Costa (1822\u20131922), and Almofada amarela<\/em> (Yellow pillow, 1923), by painter Leopoldo Gotuzzo (1887\u20131983). \u201cThe collection ranges from productions governed by European academic models, going through ruptures of modernist manifestations all the way until it reaches the plurality of developments operated by contemporary artistic practices,\u201d informs Dalcol.<\/p>\n

Project<\/strong>
\nCollect, identify, process, disseminate:<\/em> The curatorial cycle and production of knowledge<\/em> (no. 17\/07366-1<\/a>);\u00a0Grant Mechanism<\/strong>\u00a0Thematic Project; Principal Investigator<\/strong>\u00a0Ana Gon\u00e7alves Magalh\u00e3es (USP);\u00a0Investment<\/strong>\u00a0R$5,155,874.10.<\/p>\n

Scientific articles<\/strong>
\nCARVALHO, V. et al<\/em>. Curadoria em museus de hist\u00f3ria<\/a>. Anais do Museu Paulista<\/strong>. Vol. 29. 2021.
\nCARVALHO, V. C. Cinderelas, bailarinas e a vida longa das galanterias<\/a>. Anais do Museu Paulista<\/strong>. Vol. 27. 2019.
\nDUARTE, L. F. D. O Museu Nacional: Ci\u00eancia e educa\u00e7\u00e3o numa hist\u00f3ria institucional brasileira. Horizontes Antropol\u00f3gicos.<\/strong> Online. Vol. 25. 2019.
\nDUARTE, L. F. D. Um novo centen\u00e1rio para o Brasil e seu Museu Nacional. Anais do Museu Paulista<\/strong>. Vol. 30. 2022.
\nCURY, M. X. As cole\u00e7\u00f5es kaingang, guarani nhandewa e terena: Percurso documental, requalifica\u00e7\u00e3o e colabora\u00e7\u00e3o. Anais do Museu Paulista<\/strong>. Vol. 29. 2021.
\nCURY, M. X. Pol\u00edtica de gest\u00e3o de cole\u00e7\u00f5es: Curadoria ind\u00edgena, processo colaborativo e museu universit\u00e1rio<\/a>. Revista CPC (USP).<\/strong> Vol. 15. 2021.
\nMARINS, P. C. G. Uma personagem por sua roupa: O gib\u00e3o como representa\u00e7\u00e3o do bandeirante paulista<\/a>. Tempo<\/strong>. Online. Vol. 26, pp. 404\u201329; 2020.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Institutions are establishing dialogues with Indigenous peoples, identifying new meanings behind their collections","protected":false},"author":601,"featured_media":471714,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[156],"tags":[201,241,204],"coauthors":[1600],"class_list":["post-471713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cover","tag-anthropology","tag-history","tag-visual-arts"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/601"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=471713"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471713\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":472387,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471713\/revisions\/472387"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/471714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=471713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=471713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=471713"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=471713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}