Audiovisual Presentations VII
Time: 2025-09-19 09:00 - 10:30
Location: Medium Hall B at Auditorium Maximum
Chairman: Almut Leh
Events within this Session
(Re)Encounters Akupӯnh Awjanã
Type: session | Language: English
Time: 09:00 - 10:30
Abstract
Between 1962 and 1970, Brazilian anthropologist Roberto DaMatta carried out field research with the Apinajé Indigenous People, located in Central Brazil, for his doctoral thesis, published as book in 1976: “A world divided: the social structure of the Apinayé Indians.” In November 2021, DaMatta gave a long-life story interview for the Memory of Social Sciences in Brazil project, coordinated by Celso Castro at the School of Social Sciences of Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV CPDOC). The interview includes his experience with the Apinajé, and its completion led to the donation of DaMatta’s personal archive to CPDOC. The material received includes extensive records from research among the Apinajé: 3,000 photographs, dozens of audio recordings on cassette tape, and a Super-8 film, which records people, places, rituals, and festivals. A project was created to organize the archive: “Indigenous documentary heritage: collaborative work between FGV CPDOC and the Apinajé People.” New interviews were carried out with DaMatta to discuss his collection relating to the Apinajé. Furthermore, three Apinajé indigenous people joined the Professional Master’s Degree in Cultural Assets at CPDOC, began to dedicate themselves to organizing the archive, and met with DaMatta. In 2023, a CPDOC team returned the anthropologist to the Apinajé Territory after 45 years of absence. The documentary produced from this experience, from the first Oral History interview to the impact of DaMatta’s return to the Apinajé, is the record of several (re)encounters: the anthropologist with his past, the CPDOC with the Apinajé, and of indigenous people with a historical heritage that has had a significant impact on their current lives. Between awakened memories, tearful greetings, and journeys through time and space, the film portrays these various (re)encounters initiated by an Oral History interview and mediated by a personal archive that transforms based on the different subjectivities that visit it.