The Instituto do Patrimônio Histórico e Artístico Nacional (IPHAN) and the indigenous heritage: silence, architecture, and international approaches

• Grant number: 22/16210-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: August 15, 2023
• End date: June 14, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Architecture and Town Planning - Fundamentals of Architecture and Urbanism
• Principal Investigator: Silvana Barbosa Rubino
• Grantee: Luana Espig Regiani
• Supervisor: Bruno Martins Ferreira de Oliveira Carvalho
• Host Institution: Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas (IFCH). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Harvard University, United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 21/01418-5 - The National Historical and Artistic Heritage Institute and the indigenous heritage: a silence and the architecture (1937-1988), BP.DR

Abstract

This research intends to study how the National Historical and Artistic Heritage Institute (Instituto do Patrimônio Histórico e Artístico Nacional - IPHAN) acted on the notion of indigenous heritage - especially architecture - between 1937 and 1988. Since its foundation, IPHAN has led the historical construction of an authentic Brazilian past. It is evident, however, the particular fogging that the institute engendered on the Amerindian memory: although recognized as a founder, it had an inferior space compared to the European colonial legacy. This silence can be demonstrated by the absence of initiatives to list indigenous goods from the period, by few sensitive opinions on the issue, besides the rare financing of tours and rare representation of articles on the topic in the official journal of the agency. The hypothesis is that this deprecation is not accidental: there was an inadequacy of the institute regarding the theme, which did not fit within a unifying and representative narrative of a modern country. This discomfort led to intense debates with other institutions in the period, especially the National Museum, which makes the history of indigenous heritage at IPHAN the subject of intellectual confrontations that permeated different Brazilian cultural instances. By using documents, images, drawings, and texts, the intention is to analyze IPHAN's activities from the first five decades of its existence in the period preceding the new protection policies discussed by the 1988 Brazilian Constitution. The internship at Harvard University, supervised by Professor Bruno Carvalho, provides the most productive environment for a deeper discussion of these subjects, including getting in touch with the international perspective of the facts and the possibility of knowing the United States case regarding the indigenous heritage. This opportunity will enhance my knowledge and enable its refinement for a multidisciplinary analysis in the dissertation. (AU)