Collective Memories in Dispute and Insurgent Identities

Kaingang Protagonism in Heritage Institutions

Abstract

Objective – The article aimed to analyze the role of the Kaingang people in the field of institutionalized memory and heritage production from a decolonial perspective.

Methodology – The research was conducted through a qualitative-critical approach, grounded in collaborative ethnography, participatory research, and situated listening practices. The case study guided the empirical investigation, articulating observation, documentary analysis, and participation in cultural and educational activities, with an emphasis on co-authorship of knowledge and the situated production of memory.

Originality/Relevance – The originality of the study lies in the analysis of Indigenous memory practices based on the agency of the subjects themselves, shifting the focus from institutional representation to self-representation and the co-production of memory.

Results – The results indicated that Kaingang participation in the Índia Vanuíre Museum produced significant shifts in museological and educational practices, breaking with traditional exhibition logics and the objectification of Indigenous culture. Practices of shared curation, insurgent museology, and the production of living memory were identified, grounded in orality, performativity, territoriality, and Kaingang cosmological frameworks.

Theoretical/Methodological Contributions – The study contributed theoretically by articulating memory as a political dispute, epistemological plurality, and counter-hegemonic heritage practices.

Social and Environmental Contributions – At the social level, the research highlighted the strengthening of narrative self-determination and Indigenous protagonism in the construction of public memory. At the environmental level, it emphasized the centrality of territory and forest as foundations of Kaingang memory and knowledge, reaffirming the inseparability between cultural heritage, territory, and socio-environmental justice.