At the borders of museums

collaborative museological processes with indigenous peoples in museums with ethnographic collections in Brazil

Abstract

In recent decades, Western ethnographic museums have been criticized for their colonial collections, discourses and practices. Pressured to change their relationship and communication with society, many did decolonial experiences, aiming at more dialogical museological processes, especially with the communities associated with their collections, such as indigenous peoples. This article outlines conceptual elements on this theme, presenting some results of a postdoctoral research that analyzed eight museums in Brazil. Focusing on collaborative practices with indigenous peoples, the investigation highlighted what Berta Ribeiro and Lucia van Velthem had been announcing since the 1990s: that such processes go beyond the limits of the collections themselves, overflowing the borders of museums. Perhaps it is possible to say that if, on the one hand, these cases are guided by the principles of decolonization, on the other hand, they reveal different configurations of cultural mediation with the indigenous people. On the horizon, the challenge of making these political practices institutional is pointed out.