Além das correntes do cativeiro: um estudo sobre a representação negra no museu do Piauí – Casa de Odilon Nunes

Abstract

The Museum of Piauí - Casa de Odilon Nunes refers to a historical and cultural heritage of great value to the people of Piauí. It is a space rooted in memory and remains alive through it. In light of this, I understand the Museum of Piauí as one of the main official spaces for the preservation and conservation of the historical and cultural memory of Piauí. However, given the colonial/slavery context in which Brazilian society was built, the racist structures that formed the basis of our society also affected our places of memory. Thus, when we address representations of black people within the museum, we commonly encounter two fundamental dilemmas: that of absence and stereotype. We find that there is an absence of representations of black history and culture within these spaces, and when they are not absent, they are presented in a completely stereotypical and/or reductionist manner, referencing only the period of enslavement. Given these reasons, we intend in this study to go beyond conventional museological discussions and, through a critical, Afrocentric, interdisciplinary, decolonial, anti-racist, and anti-capitalist approach, understand how black representation is configured in the Museum of Piauí - Casa de Odilon Nunes, from the perspective of black people. For this purpose, theoretical/conceptual discussions have been developed concerning cultural heritage and places of memory. Through the perspective of the sociology of the body, I reflect on the process of the “invention” of the black body and the fixation of this invented body in the memory of enslavement. An analysis of the Museum of Piauí's collection, which seeks to reference Afro-Brazilian history and culture, is also conducted. Finally, I present proposals for transformation in the Museum of Piauí scenario, emphasizing decolonial museology as a possibility to achieve this change. I conclude that the Museum of Piauí - Casa de Odilon Nunes is rooted in colonialist ideology, restricting Afro-Brazilian history and culture to the narrative and memory of enslavement, while lacking the inclusion of positive representations of black history, memory, culture, and bodies. The research corpus was developed through semi-structured interviews with black people (black and brown) who have experienced the Museum of Piauí. Theoretical contributions from Nora (1993), Pantaleão (2006), Fanon (2008), Nascimento (2019), Lara (1988), among others, will be considered