Marília Caetano Rodrigues Morais

The research investigates the production, circulation, and collection of the bykyrè – Iny-Karajá mats. Through these plaited artifacts, different generations of Iny-Karajá women weave not only the buriti palm fiber, but also kinship, prestige, rituals, subsistence strategies, knowledge exchanges, cultural recognition, and defense of their ethnic rights. The rhythm of weaving bykyrè threads together the Iny-Karajá woman’s hands with ancestral wisdom, making each traditional mat a gesture of re-creating worlds. As part of their long and complex trajectories, these artifacts were incorporated into ethnographic collections, encompassing current collection-building processes. In this context, I will conduct ethnographic research intersecting bykyrè from museum collections and within Indigenous territories. This funding proposal centers on Hawaló, an Iny-Karajá village, in the Brazilian Amazon, following the various circuits interwoven with the bykyrè mats. I will also return the evidence already collected in the museums to the community. This study will contribute to the re-contextualization of Indigenous artifacts within the history of anthropology while challenging inequalities in the relationships between anthropology, museums, and Indigenous peoples. Moreover, by placing Iny-Karajá women at the center of the analysis, the research draws attention to historical gender asymmetries in ethnological studies, while contributing to the consolidation of a collaborative anthropology.