O Americanismo visto do Musée de l’Homme: etnografia e internacionalismo científico: o exemplo da Amazônia

Abstract

In the precursory works of French anthropology it can be found out that techniques and material culture have a high standing: the Musée de l'Homme, inaugurated in 1937, is no longer a colonial museum, but a modern museum testifying the diversity of human societies and conceived as a show window of humanity. Linking research and teaching, it is in this period that professional ethno-graphy starts in France: the two ‘Lévi-Strauss’ missions, in 1935 and 1938, comprise the project of collecting objects for the Musée de l'Homme and at the same time, represent the beginning of a new phase of Americanism no longer oriented to material culture, but to the study of social structures. We will appraise the importance of this shift of emphasis for Americanist studies in the Amazon and the consolidation of a network of international research during World War II emphasizing French participation (Métraux and Lévi-Strauss) in the Handbook of South American Indians.