Darcy Ribeiro’s valuable gaze - Part 4: The Urubu-Ka'apor

Follow below the fourth and final part of the virtual exhibition "The precious look of Darcy Ribeiro"

Young Urubu-Ka'apor with lip adornment and necklace by Darcy RibeiroMuseu do Índio

Urubu-Ka'apor

Darcy Ribeiro and the Urubu-Ka'apor, people he was with between 1949 and 1951

Darcy Ribeiro was among the Urubu-Ka'apor between 1949 and 1951, having carried out two major expeditions, the first up the Gurupi River and the second up the Pindaré River, where he found the indigenous people quite weakened by various diseases, mainly measles. Among the results of this research, the documentary film The Urubus Indians: daily life in an indigenous village in the rainforest, directed by Heinz Foerthmann (1949), stands out.

The Urubus Indians: Daily Life in an Indigenous Village in the Rainforest (1949)

Directed by Heinz Foerthmann and Darcy Ribeiro, the film portrays the daily life of a young Urubu-Ka'apor family: Kosó, his wife Xi'ira and their little son Berém, showing the technique of the material culture of this people, such as the making of arrows and domestic life. .

The Ka'apor family poses for the photographer (left) and Ka'apor man and teenager from Vale do Pindaré, with body paint and necklace (right) by Darcy RibeiroMuseu do Índio

Although the first relations with the Serviço de Proteção aos Índios (SPI) were established in 1911, it was only from 1928 onwards that the continuous contact of the Ka'apor with non-indigenous people was effectively established. Since then, the Ka'apor population has declined sharply: there were about 2,000 in 1928; just over 900, around 1950, when Darcy was among them; and only 494 in 1982.

Young Ka'apor with lip adornment and necklace, Darcy Ribeiro, From the collection of: Museu do Índio
,
Ka'apor girl with a gourd in her hand, Darcy Ribeiro, From the collection of: Museu do Índio
Show lessRead more

Despite the constant pressure on their territory, today, the Ka'apor make up again a population equivalent to that of 1928, the mark of contact with national society: there are about 2,000 indigenous people living in the Alto Turiaçu Indigenous Land, in the west of the state of Maranhao.

Ka'apor indigenous house under construction, in Vale do Pindaré (left) and the Ka'apor Urubu people gathered in front of the party house, singing and dancing (right) by Darcy RibeiroMuseu do Índio

Ka'apor boy with the hunt on his back, Darcy Ribeiro, From the collection of: Museu do Índio
,
Ka'apor boy with the hunt on his back, Darcy Ribeiro, From the collection of: Museu do Índio
Show lessRead more

The indigenous Koata (left) and Ka'apor man (right) sitting in hammocks by Darcy RibeiroMuseu do Índio

In his writings, Darcy Ribeiro defined the Ka'apor as late Tupinambás: "Five hundred-year-old Tupinambás, radically changed in time, as we ourselves have changed". The photographs taken by him during the period he lived with these people are an example of how cultural creations change their profile over time and how, with the change of context, they take on new meanings and new values.

Ka'apor woman holding a gourd (left) and Ka'apor man drinking chibé (right) by Darcy RibeiroMuseu do Índio

Ka'apor woman weaving, Darcy Ribeiro, From the collection of: Museu do Índio
Show lessRead more
Ka'apor woman and children knead the manioc flour, Darcy Ribeiro, From the collection of: Museu do Índio
Show lessRead more
Ka'apor woman cutting firewood with an ax, Darcy Ribeiro, From the collection of: Museu do Índio
Show lessRead more

What makes Darcy's photographs really special is that, when photographing, he mixed the moods of scientific discovery and the human experience that intercultural encounters make possible. He photographed to get in touch and produce a memory of that encounter. Thus, his photography surpassed its primary function as a descriptive record and entered the world of imagination.

Ka'apor children with stilts (left) and man in a hammock making an arrow (right) by Darcy RibeiroMuseu do Índio

Ka'apor man returning from the hunt by Darcy RibeiroMuseu do Índio

Ka'apor children with body and face paint and adornment by Darcy RibeiroMuseu do Índio

Darcy Ribeiro commented more than once on a dialogue he had with Lévi-Strauss, in which the latter would have told him that their theoretical work would not last long, but that ethnographic observation has permanent value.

Darcy Ribeiro with a Ka'apor woman, From the collection of: Museu do Índio
Show lessRead more

In the year of his centenary, we know what that smiling young man with the black mustache did not yet know: that he would be led by the twists of history to become rector, minister of the Republic, vice-governor, novelist.

Ka'apor woman with baby on her lap, next to Darcy Ribeiro, From the collection of: Museu do Índio
Show lessRead more

It is difficult not to be tempted not to see in the photos of this exhibition the seeds of the transformative and idealistic spirit that led him to that future.

Darcy Ribeiro and Kadiwéu IndiansMuseu do Índio

Song of the Urubu Ka'apor Indians recorded by Darcy Ribeiro
00:00

Darcy Ribeiro 100

It is with great honor that the Museu do Índio salutes the 100th anniversary of Darcy Ribeiro and reaffirms the institution's commitment to combating prejudice against indigenous peoples and their cultures infused by the anthropologist in the gesture of its creation.

Credits: Story

Physical exhibition originally held between November 23 and December 30, 2010 at Caixa Cultural in Rio de Janeiro:

General coordination and curation
Milton Guran
 
Executive production
SAMI - Society of Friends of the Indian Museum
 
Expographic design and visual design of the exhibition
Jair de Souza Design
 
Visual production and programming
Melanie Guerra
 
Exhibition production and assembly
Joana Mazza and Paulo Duque Estrada
 
Exhibition assembly team
Paulo Duque Estrada and Kazuhiro Bedim
 
Cenotechnic
Dorival Queiroz
 
Image Treatment
Joana Mazza, Daniel Bokelmann and Branca Mattos
 
Texts
Milton Guran, Fabio Maciel (Indian Museum) e Juca Ferreira.
 
Research
Fabio Maciel and the Indian Museum team
 
Research Assistant
Katharina Essus






Virtual version adapted to the Google Arts & Culture platform


Graphic design
Ana Carolina Aleixo

Additional research
Team of the Documentary References Service of the Museu do Índio

Virtual exhibition assembly
Communication team of the Museum of the Indian

Credits: All media
The story featured may in some cases have been created by an independent third party and may not always represent the views of the institutions, listed below, who have supplied the content.
Google apps