Rediscovering museums with leaders of the indigenous Ka'apor people: Intercultural dialogues and experiences in museums in Brazil and the Netherlands.

Abstract

the intercultural experience of “rediscovering” museums in Brazil and the Netherlands through dialogues between leaders of the A'apor indigenous people and non-indigenous researchers of Latin American origin working in Brazil and the Netherlands stimulated co-theorizing exercises on A'apor indigenous knowledge (kwaha mupitaha) and anthropological, ethnobotanical and museological knowledge produced in museum and university institutions in these national contexts.

As a result of this exercise, we highlight the a'apor understanding of the territory and the forest as a “living museum”, as a place that enables indigenous people to create, reproduce and “save” their knowledge, an argument that reinforces the importance of protecting the territory and the forest for the preservation of indigenous knowledge and life. We reflect on how museums can be privileged spaces for the creation of intercultural knowledge.