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InDigit’s goal is to develop a prototype digital repository, in collaboration with consultants from the Kamayurá indigenous people who live in the Upper Xingu in Brazil, based on their collection located at the Portuguese National Museum of Ethnology (NME), in Lisbon, Portugal.
The main objective is to examine the differences and similarities between the theories and practices of NME and the Kamayurá, in terms of classification systems, access protocols, concepts of ownership, care regimes and notions of temporality. The project also aims to contribute to public policies in this matter by producing a guide with recommendations from the Kamayurá regarding the management of their people’s collections.
InDigit will thus seek to address the urgency of some of the debates raised by digital transition in museology, considering aspects such as the supposed neutrality of technological platforms, or the lack of policies and protocols for the digitisation of indigenous peoples’ heritage drawn up in collaboration with these peoples.
Finally, the participation of Kamayurá consultants in the project as co-researchers will also make it possible to contextualise the collection obtained for NME by Victor and Françoise Bandeira in 1964 in greater detail. These consultants were responsible for the Arquivo Kamayurá project, which consisted of visiting the collections of the main Brazilian anthropologists who worked with this people.
The non-use of images from the collection of the Kamayurá indigenous people at the National Museum of Ethnology at the initial stage of InDigit’s communication is due to the fact that the project is trying to find out, among other things, whether, according to the Kamayurá, these images can be disseminated, and if so, which ones and in what context.
This project contributes to Thematic Lines TL3 TL4 and TL5
Research Team
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IN2PAST – Associate Laboratory for Research and Innovation in Heritage, Arts, Sustainability and Territory is funded by FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I. P. under reference LA/P/0132/2020 (DOI 10.54499/LA/P/0132/2020)
