Ethnographie, anthropologie et contemporanéité: quelques questions sur le cas brésilien

Abstract

This article presents an analysis of anthropological knowledge in contemporary Brazil, based on a description of the specific forms of knowledge and anthropological styles that have constructed ethnography and its privileged objects at certain key moments in the history of our country. We refer first of all to the political and socio-cultural contexts within which, between the end of the 19th century and 1930, work developed which presented a reflection on the construction of Brazilian society. We then describe the progressive institutionalisation of anthropology, from 1940 to its current development. Finally, we examine the problems of institutional relationships and power which underlie ethnographic knowledge and configure its limits and possibilities in Brazil.