OP 107. Indigenous Peoples Rights vs Museums : how do “we” represent indigenous peoples and what do they think of it ?

Convenor:
Irene Bellier (CNRS) – France
Renato Athias (Núcleo de Estudos e Pesquisas sobre Etnicidade) – Brasil

Languages accepted for paper presentations:
Anglais, Français, Espagnol, Portugais
Keywords:
indigenous peoples, cultural rights, museums, indigenous museums, ethnographic collections

This panel seeks to discuss the forms of representing Indigenous peoples and societies in the museums and other cultural institutions by bringing together issues in the fields of museology, anthropology, archeology, education, communication, arts, and law. The pluridisciplinary approach denotes the complexity of the theme while focusing on new museum practices, new indigenous demands,  the emergence of indigenous peoples as curators.

Presently, and beyond terriorial conflicts which exemplify the nature of the tense relationship between indigenous peoples, the State and privates companies, a confrontation is taking place between their conception of « culture » (as system of life) and the western organisation of « culture » (to educate and disseminate). We observe a threefold situation : 1) in Latin America,  contrary to what is happening in the USA or in Oceania-Pacific, with a certain echo in France, the Amerindian presence has not reached the museums which  present their objects and speak of their cultures ; 2) the Unesco which is issuing a new policy for respecting indigenous peoples rights also promotes a greater participation of their representatives, and the respect of education and cultural rights ; 3) Museum institutions, which play an important role in promoting knowldege among a larger society have not realized that a museum narrative can no longer be sustained without the participation of indigenous people and a cross cultural dialogue.

Having this situation in mind we would like to discuss questions related to the notion of possession (what objects belong to whom ?) in relation to their own history and the social life of the objects;  the knowledge attached to the objects and the scenarii of their presentation and selection  (who thinks ? and with what intention?); the indigenous demands and the relation they operate between the territory and the museum; how cultural institutions respond to indigenous demands; and how beneficial can be the prospect of decolonizing research? The panel will focus on case studies, controversies and examples of good practices at different scales (international, regional, national, local).

1 Session:  Museums and Indigenous Representation

OP 107 – Thursday July 19, 2018 8:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.

Papers:

Compartilhando Saberes Indígenas em primeira pessoa: analisando a curadoria compartilhada da exposição Tecendo saberes pelos caminhos Guarani, Kaingang e Laklãnõ-Xokleng (MArquE/UFSC)
Author(s): Thainá Castro Costa Figueiredo Lopes, Rogerio Victor Satil Neves

Compartilhando saberes: o diálogo intercultural e a cultura material Karajá
Author(s): Manuel Ferreira Lima Filho

Mémoires, récits, et patrimoines. Echanges dans les réserves du musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac (France)
Author(s): Fabienne De Pierrebourg

Obi: Corpo e relação nas práticas xamânicas Karajá
Author(s): Rafael Santana Gonçalves de Andrade

Representations of “Indigenous otherness” in the Museums of the uttermost part of the world: Museo del Fin del Mundo (Tierra del Fuego, Argentina) and Museo Antropológico Martin Gusinde (Navarino Island, Chile)
Author(s): Ana Butto, Danae Fiore

Session Chair: Renato Athias

Debater: Nabla Gakr

 

2 Session :  Museums Practices and Repatriation issues

OP 107 – Thursday July 19, 2018 10:30 am – 12:00

Papers:

A critical view of current museum practice of re-colonizing Indigenous Peoples Knowledge: between post-colonial and neo-colonial ethnographic museums practices
Author(s): Sonia Duin, Renzo Sebastiaan Duin

ABS, FPIC, NAGPRA, and Digital Repatriation: case-studies from the Guianas
Author(s): Renzo Sebastiaan Duin, Sonia Duin

Os indígenas e suas coleções cariocas
Author(s): Mariane Aparecida do Nascimento Vieira

The indigenous avant-garde
Author(s): Marcos Alexandre dos Santos Albuquerque

Session chair: Irène Bellier

Dabater:
Rosilene Fonseca Pereira.