Karl Von Den Steinen's Ethnography in the Context of the Brazilian Empire

Abstract

The beginnings of systematic ethnography in Brazil can be attributed to the German physician and psychiatrist Karl von den Steinen, who in 1884 led the first expedition to the Amazonian River Xingu. The ethnographies Durch Central-Brasilien (1886) and its sequel Unter den Naturvölkern Zentral-Brasiliens (1894), about the expedition from 1887 to 1888, made him the world's leading expert on Brazilian indigenous peoples. This article seeks to explore von den Steinen's expeditions and their results within a specific political and cultural context. On the one hand, his theoretical approach was related to German ethnology and anthropology. On the other, the expeditions took place in the context of the indigenous policy of the Brazilian Empire. The Brazilian government provided material aid and military staff, because it had interests in the researches, although these interests at times were conflictive. This article's objective is to contribute to a historical analysis of the political conditions of ethnography.

Nimuendajú, a Senhorita Doutora e os ‘etnógrafos berlineses’: rede de conhecimento e espaços de circulaçâo na configuraçâo da etnologia alemâ na Amazônia no início do século XX

“…Esta região foi, desde finais do século XVIII, sobretudo a partir das viagens de Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859), entre 1799 e 1804, e de Friedrich Wilhelm Sieber (1775-1831), entre 1801 e 1812, um dos locais priorizados em viagens de cientistas, coletores e exploradores nascidos, principalmente, na Alemanha, Suíça e Áustria. As razões desse interesse vão desde a importância do mundo tropical na economia e no imaginário alemães (Kellenbenz e Schneider, 1980;Süssekind, 1990;Rinke, 2014;Chernela e Pereira, 2018) até questões de ordem política, institucional e intelectual, como as que trouxeram ao Brasil a chamada Missão Austríaca, em 1817, e a série de etnólogos que, a exemplo de Karl von den Steinen (1855Steinen ( -1929 e Paul Ehrenreich (1855Ehrenreich ( -1914, transformou em definitivo o conhecimento arqueológico, antropológico e linguístico das terras baixas sul-americanas (Coelho, 1993;Kraus, 2004;Drude, 2005;Rebok, 2009;Petschelies, 2018). 5 Em um sentido inverso, a Europa Central -com seu amplo sistema universitário, museológico e industrial -tornou-se referência mundial no campo da ciência e tecnologia.…”

Karl von den Steinen’s Ethnographic Research among Indigenous Peoples in Brazil, 1884-1888

“…When Karl von den Steinen (1855Steinen ( -1929 undertook his Brazilian researches in 1884 and 1887-88, he developed new standards for ethnographic research. Inspired by the ethnologist Adolf Bastian , and following rigorous methodological steps that had already been established in German ethnography, he started what has recently been named as the "beginnings of systematic ethnography in Brazil" (Petschelies, 2018).…”