Articles
O presente artigo parte de um debate que visa compreender como os regimes disciplinares da antropologia conduzem o pesquisador a seguir um protocolo específico de questões e interesses em suas pesquisas. O objetivo, aqui, é discutir sobre os
[+]Articles
Neste artigo retomo ideias emergentes de um projeto de pesquisa com crianças que acontece em um bairro periurbano da cidade de Villa Nueva (Córdoba, Argentina) e discuto a agência das crianças e sua participação na pesquisa em ciências
[+]Articles
A produção de um saber moderno acerca da flora e fauna amazônicas incorpora, desde as expedições naturalistas do século XVIII, conhecedores e conhecedoras por vivência daquele ecossistema. No Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia
[+]Interdisciplinarités
Este artigo retoma os estudos sobre a casa e o habitar desenvolvidos pela Antropologia e pela Arquitetura portuguesas, acrescentando-lhes um olhar vindo das geografias da arquitetura, para de seguida explorar a forma como os habitantes de edifícios
[+]Dossiê “Beyond penal populism: complexifying justice systems and security through qualitative lenses”
In the global political landscape, as far-right parties gain prominence, populist rhetoric advocating for harsher justice and security policies is becoming increasingly prevalent. Proponents of this rhetoric base their discourse on “alarming”
[+]Dossiê “Beyond penal populism: complexifying justice systems and security through qualitative lenses”
In this article we argue that hospitality security – a modality that confuses control and care – operates through the actions of security guards in the creation of what we call pre-cases. From a dense ethnography accompanying these workers in a
[+]Dossiê “Beyond penal populism: complexifying justice systems and security through qualitative lenses”
A violência policial racista é uma das facetas mais brutais do racismo na nossa sociedade, refletindo estruturas de poder e opressão que marginalizam setores da sociedade. Este artigo sublinha a importância de compreender essa realidade,
[+]Dossiê “Beyond penal populism: complexifying justice systems and security through qualitative lenses”
This article engages with contemporary anthropological and ethnographic methodological debates by reflecting on the challenges of conducting research in contexts related with marginality, deviance, surveillance, and imprisonment. It examines the
[+]Dossiê “Beyond penal populism: complexifying justice systems and security through qualitative lenses”
Qualitative researchers face unique challenges in the dynamic domain of border regions, particularly when venturing into highly securitized areas with a constant military presence, advanced surveillance, and restricted access zones. This article
[+]Memoire
Falecido recentemente, Victor Bandeira (1931-2024) desempenhou um papel fundamental no desenvolvimento da museologia etnográfica em Portugal. Foi graças às suas expedições a África (1960-1961, 1966, 1967), ao Brasil (1964-1965) e à Indonésia
[+]Prix Lévi-Strauss
Este trabalho é uma versão reduzida e sintetizada da etnografia realizada do PMSC Notícia, a plataforma de notícias da Polícia Militar de Santa Catarina (PMSC). A partir das notícias sobre a morte, o morrer e os mortos publicadas no site no
[+]Articles
Este artigo mobiliza as ecologias de valor como um quadro concetual para dar conta dos conflitos, contradições e dilemas decorrentes da experiência da crise socioecológica contemporânea. Baseia-se num trabalho de campo etnográfico em Brindisi,
[+]Articles
This ethnographic article addresses the difficulties, practices, and strategies of the professionals of the only Argentine hospital fully specialized in the treatment of mental health problems of children and adolescents. More specifically, it
[+]Articles
As ibejadas são entidades infantis que, junto aos caboclos, pretos-velhos, exus e pombagiras, habitam o panteão da umbanda. Nos centros, essas entidades se apresentam em coloridas imagens, alegres pontos cantados e muitos doces que nos permitem
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The article analyzes the Anata-Carnival festivity celebrated in the Andean town of Chiapa in the Tarapacá Region, Great North of Chile. I suggest that this celebration constitutes one of the main events that promote the reproduction of feelings of
[+]Articles
Partindo de desenvolvimentos na teoria etnográfica e antropológica para os estudos do turismo urbano, este ensaio oferece uma descrição das paisagens turísticas de Sarajevo pela perspetiva do turista-etnógrafo, detalhando como o tempo se
[+]Memoire
O artigo comenta, contextualiza e transcreve o intercâmbio epistolar que mantiveram, entre 1971 e 1979, o antropólogo social David J. Webster (1945-1989) e o etnólogo e funcionário colonial português, António Rita-Ferreira (1922-2014).
[+]Dossier « Genre et soins dans l'expérience transnationale cap-verdienne »
Neste dossiê sobre o género e os cuidados na comunidade transnacional cabo-verdiana, as leitoras e leitores encontrarão os resultados de diferentes etnografias feitas tanto em Cabo Verde como nos países de destino da sua diáspora no sul da
[+]Dossier « Genre et soins dans l'expérience transnationale cap-verdienne »
Partindo do terreno etnográfico – interior da ilha de Santiago de Cabo Verde – e com base na observação participante e em testemunhos das habitantes locais de Brianda, este artigo é uma contribuição para poder interpretar as estratégias
[+]Dossier « Genre et soins dans l'expérience transnationale cap-verdienne »
Este artigo reflete sobre a categoria cuidado quando atravessada pelas dinâmicas de gênero e geração na sociedade cabo-verdiana. O ato de cuidar é de fundamental importância para as dinâmicas familiares nesta sociedade que é marcada por
[+]Dossier « Genre et soins dans l'expérience transnationale cap-verdienne »
Este artigo toma como base o trabalho de campo realizado com mulheres de quatro gerações, pertencentes a cinco famílias residentes na localidade de Burela (Galiza) e aos seus grupos domésticos originários da ilha de Santiago. Apresentamos três
[+]Dossier « Genre et soins dans l'expérience transnationale cap-verdienne »
The reconciliation of the personal, work and family spheres of migrants is an emerging issue in migration studies, with concepts such as the transnational family and global care chains. In this contribution we analyse the strategies deployed by
[+]Débat
Este artigo questiona a consistência, razoabilidade e fecundidade das propostas metodológicas e conceção de conhecimento antropológico da “viragem ontológica” em antropologia. Tomando como ponto de partida o livro-manifesto produzido por
[+]Débat
O artigo “Estrangeiros universais”, de Filipe Verde, apresenta uma crítica ao que chama de “viragem ontológica” na antropologia, tomando o livro The Ontological Turn, de Holbraad e Pedersen (2017), como ponto de partida (2025a: 252).1 O
[+]Débat
Se há evidência que a antropologia sempre reconheceu é a de que o meio em que somos inculturados molda de forma decisiva a nossa compreensão do mundo e de nós mesmos. Isso é assim para a própria antropologia e, portanto, ser antropólogo é
[+]Débat
Um erro do construtivismo clássico é postular que verdades alheias seriam construídas socialmente, mas as do próprio enunciador não. Que minha visão de mundo, do fazer antropológico e da ciência sejam moldadas por meu ambiente – em
[+]Note sur la couverture
© Pedro Calapez. 2023. (Pormenor) Díptico B; Técnica e Suporte: Acrílico sobre tela colada em MDF e estrutura em madeira. Dimensões: 192 x 120 x 4 cm. Imagem gentilmente cedidas pelo autor. Créditos fotográficos: MPPC / Pedro
[+]Notes de terrain sont des textes originaux qui proposent un regard et une réflexion sur les expériences de recherche avec la présentation de vignettes de terrain. Les auteurs sont invités à intégrer des représentations multimodales (texte, son et image dans les formats les plus variés) qui facilitent l'accès aux faits, matérialités, engagements, interactions, relations et interactions rendus possibles lors du travail de terrain. Une section qui ouvre la porte sur la manière dont les anthropologues produisent des connaissances lorsqu'ils mènent leurs recherches, en valorisant les données brutes, les matériaux à analyser, les impressions et les inexactitudes, les circonstances et la nature gerondive de la pratique de l'anthropologie et qui invite à des solutions, des idées créatives qui font nous entrons ou abordons les expériences vécues par les anthropologues sur le terrain.
One day, without warning, the telephone rings. A brief conversation suggests the existence of a private collection, acquired in the Makonde region in northern Mozambique, whose future is uncertain. As I take notes on paper, I nod affirmatively, and my enthusiasm grows in proportion to the kilometers I calculate I will have to travel. Travelled objects also compel us to travel towards them. This is the researcher’s task: to step outside the comfort zone, to move towards the multiple “truths” that emerge along the contradictory bends of the road. Upon arrival, one must bring them together and, with gloves, care, and awareness, attempt to reconstruct a puzzle that will always remain incomplete.
I think of the many books I have read on travel, on the histories of objects, and on the obligation to return them to the places from which they were taken. A week earlier, a book by Jos Van Beurden had once again drawn my attention to the importance of studying private colonial collections, which increasingly demand critical examination in the light of heritage restitution.
In recent years, I have become accustomed to travelling. My suitcases grow smaller while the journeys grow longer. What they offer me above all is the surprise, the unexpected. It is there, in that space of the unknown, that truly important things begin to take shape. It is a risk that entails a certain degree of irresponsibility, accompanied by uncertainty and a rush of adrenaline. A place where I do not know whether my footing is secure, which only heightens my desire to keep walking.
Without seeking to excuse all those travelers who, over decades, journeyed to distant lands and returned with objects that today stand as ambassadors of the guilt they feel, I confess, in their defense, that sometimes I do the same. Objects materialize memory, allowing one to travel again even while remaining still. I believe this is why so many objects have travelled in the hands of their travelers. The collector-traveler is one type within a broad spectrum: the food traveler, the mass-culture traveler, the labor traveler, and the politicized traveler.
The collector-traveler is materialistic. They allow themselves to be captivated by the other’s beauty and seek to incorporate it into their own world. It is through objects that they encounter themselves again and confront their lived experience. They create their own microcosm and sustain themselves within it; objects become extensions of their existence, accumulating narratives that they recount while “curating” their own lives.
This story is real. Because it is real, it is anonymous. “Maria” is a common and beautiful name, and for that reason I choose to use it.
Maria is dying; she has only a few months left to live, and that is why my phone rang. A mutual friend asked me for help. I write down the place where she lives: a small village in the center of the country. It lies precisely halfway along the journey I plan to undertake the following week. A journey always opens new possibilities, and stops are often the beginning of new paths.
The van has been loaded for several days. The driver enjoys travelling as much as I do – an essential condition for the trip to go well. We stop in various places, and I buy objects, as befits the collector-traveler that I am.
On the final day, I met Maria. She is thin, with fair skin and light eyes, and short hair. She wears comfortable clothes. She is marked by an apparent fragility that contrasts with the assertiveness of her speech. She meets me at the village café, and we walk up to her house at the top of a hill surrounded by trees. She tells me she lived for more than ten years in Mozambique, where she fell in love and believed in life, almost dying of love when, already alone, she returned to Portugal.
Maria was trained as a primary school teacher but devoted her life to promoting handicrafts. In Mozambique, she founded a center that supported young people through art, and together with her husband – of Makonde origin and a professional sculptor – she began collecting objects. “There were many objects,” she tells me. “He had all the contacts and filled our balcony.”
Maria argues she purchased them for pleasure. In her house – old and inherited from her now-deceased mother – objects accumulate in an aesthetic disorder. On the walls and across the tables, the objects map her journeys: Latin America, Africa, Asia – Maria travelled widely.
She is now ill and does not know what to do. Her family does not recognize itself in the collection. Returning it to the countries from which it came would, for Maria, mean casting it into misfortune; leaving it in the ageing village would mean consigning it to oblivion. I accompany her through the house. She shows me objects of traditional kitchenware, textiles, stools, basketry, jewelry, and a few masks. Most of these objects have little value compared with those displayed in museums worldwide. They are everyday objects imbued with feeling, I conclude.
At the end of our conversation, I ask Maria to close her eyes. I believe that closed eyes allow us to access desire more quickly. I ask her which destination she would choose for the collection if she were free to choose. “I would sell it. I do not have much time, and I want to go back one last time to Botswana. It is the journey we carry with us,” she replies, opening her eyes with a smile.
Some weeks later, I learned that someone had expressed interest in buying Maria’s objects, but I never discovered whether the exchange was completed or whether that gesture allowed her to release the memories of past journeys and depart once more.
Nevertheless, the encounter made evident that objects have multiple trajectories and meanings, and that the motivations for collecting – always situated and biographical – must be considered when interrogating a museum collection or a group of objects inherited from a deceased individual. It also attuned me to the importance of unofficial object histories – those that circulate outside institutions yet can inform and enrich the decolonial debate surrounding non-European ethnographic collections.
Ana Temudo is a researcher and curator with academic training in Fine Arts, Artistic Studies, Museology, and Heritage Studies. She holds a PhD in Heritage Studies from the Portuguese Catholic University, a master’s degree in Museology from the University of Porto, and a bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts, with postgraduate studies in Artistic Studies, from the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Porto. Her research and professional practice focus on interdisciplinary approaches connecting museology, art, and the social sciences. She is a collaborating researcher at the Institute of Contemporary History, NOVA University of Lisbon / IN2PAST — Associate Laboratory for Research and Innovation in Heritage, Arts, Sustainability and Territory, and at the Research Center for Science and Technology of the Arts of the Portuguese Catholic University. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2463-3975
