ESHS/HSS Annual Meeting

Anthropological Expeditions in Twentieth-Century Brazil: Ethnographic Objects and Collections in the Transnational Relations of Science and Museums

• In Event: Scientific Expeditions and the Co-Production of Knowledge

English Abstract

This paper examines how ethnographic collections assembled in Brazil between the 1930s and 1950s participated in the making of scientific knowledge, museum practices, and state oversight under the Council for the Supervision of Artistic and Scientific Expeditions in Brazil (CFE). Through six case studies of collections resulting from expeditions conducted by foreign anthropologists, ethnographers, and collectors in Brazil, the paper explores how objects of Indigenous material culture were mobilized, reinterpreted, and circulated across transnational scientific scenarios. These itineraries connected Brazil to institutions in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Denmark, revealing multiple regimes of expertise, authority, and ownership. Adopting a transnational perspective, the study analyzes the entanglements between science, museums, commerce, diplomacy, and sovereignty, employing archival research and object biographies and itineraries. By investigating the role of the CFE as a mediating and regulatory apparatus, it highlights how expeditions combined collaborative and extractive dynamics shaped by negotiations between the Brazilian state and foreign scientific actors. Ultimately, the paper seeks to contribute to broader historiographical debates on science, heritage, and museums, while engaging with contemporary discussions on decolonization, repatriation, and scientific diplomacy. It positions ethnographic objects as active participants in the making of anthropological careers and in the contested spaces where knowledge, authority, and sovereignty are negotiated.

Author

• VICTOR RAFAEL LIMEIRA-DASILVA, Museu de Astronomia e Ciências Afins (MAST)