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Abstract(s)
Esta tese trata as trajectórias de aquisição, exposição e musealização de duas colecções de objectos associadas aos missionários da Congregação do Espírito Santo, também conhecidos como espiritanos, que hoje se encontram em dois dos principais museus antropológicos em Portugal: o Museu Nacional de Etnologia, em Lisboa; e a secção de antropologia do Museu da Ciência da Universidade de Coimbra. Procura-se desenvolver as histórias da constituição e circulação destas colecções no contexto da actividade missionária espiritana e da história da antropologia e dos museus antropológicos, em Portugal e em Angola durante o período colonial tardio. O argumento de Antropologias Espiritanas é duplo. Em primeiro lugar, a tese defende que o envolvimento dos espiritanos com a etnografia e com a recolha e circulação de objectos assumiu diversas formas, mas manteve-se sempre em íntima relação com a actividade missionária. Por esse motivo, ele reflecte de forma dinâmica as suas principais características, preocupações, intersecções e contingências históricas. Tal envolvimento só pode ser entendido a partir da pluralidade de práticas e de objectos; de museus e arquivos; de trajectórias e de escalas; de incentivos e interesses; de significados e contextos em que circularam os missionários e os objectos por si coleccionados. Em segundo lugar, argumenta-se que o arquivo etnográfico colonial angolano foi constituído em grande medida com base em múltiplas apropriações de saberes e objectos missionários. A análise da actividade missionária permite assim trazer a lume novos elementos para a história dos museus e da antropologia em contexto colonial português. A tese propõe, portanto, que a antropologia em Portugal, particularmente na sua base museológica, se constituiu e foi influenciada pelas contribuições e pela actividade missionária espiritana.
This thesis explores the trajectories of acquisition, exhibition and musealization of two collections of objects associated with the missionaries of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit, also known as the Spiritan Fathers. These collections can be found today in two of the main anthropology museums in Portugal: the National Museum of Ethnology, in Lisbon; and the anthropology section of the Science Museum of the University of Coimbra. The thesis seeks to develop the histories of the formation and circulation of these collections, both in the context of Spiritan missionary activity, and in the history of anthropology and anthropological museums in Portugal and Angola during the late colonial period. The argument of Spiritan Anthropologies is twofold. Firstly, the thesis claims that the connection of the Spiritan Fathers to ethnography and the collection of objects took various forms, but was always closely related to the missionary activity. Therefore, it reflects in a dynamic way the main characteristics, concerns, intersections and historical contingencies of missionary activity. That connection can only be understood from the plurality of practices and objects; museums and archives; trajectories and scales; incentives and interests; meanings and contexts through which the missionaries and the objects they collected circulated. Secondly, it argues that the Angolan colonial ethnographic archive was largely based on multiple appropriations of missionary forms of knowledge and collections. Analysing missionary activity thus allows us to bring to light new elements to the history of museums and anthropology in Portuguese colonialism. The thesis suggests, therefore, that anthropology, particularly in its museological basis, was fundamentally shaped and influenced by the Spiritan contributions and missionary activity.
This thesis explores the trajectories of acquisition, exhibition and musealization of two collections of objects associated with the missionaries of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit, also known as the Spiritan Fathers. These collections can be found today in two of the main anthropology museums in Portugal: the National Museum of Ethnology, in Lisbon; and the anthropology section of the Science Museum of the University of Coimbra. The thesis seeks to develop the histories of the formation and circulation of these collections, both in the context of Spiritan missionary activity, and in the history of anthropology and anthropological museums in Portugal and Angola during the late colonial period. The argument of Spiritan Anthropologies is twofold. Firstly, the thesis claims that the connection of the Spiritan Fathers to ethnography and the collection of objects took various forms, but was always closely related to the missionary activity. Therefore, it reflects in a dynamic way the main characteristics, concerns, intersections and historical contingencies of missionary activity. That connection can only be understood from the plurality of practices and objects; museums and archives; trajectories and scales; incentives and interests; meanings and contexts through which the missionaries and the objects they collected circulated. Secondly, it argues that the Angolan colonial ethnographic archive was largely based on multiple appropriations of missionary forms of knowledge and collections. Analysing missionary activity thus allows us to bring to light new elements to the history of museums and anthropology in Portuguese colonialism. The thesis suggests, therefore, that anthropology, particularly in its museological basis, was fundamentally shaped and influenced by the Spiritan contributions and missionary activity.
Description
Tese de doutoramento, Antropologia (Antropologia e História), Universidade de Lisboa, Instituto de Ciências Sociais, 2018
Keywords
Teses de doutoramento - 2018