The representation of indigenous and Afro-descendants in anthropological photography in Brazil

Abstract

Brazil is going through a critical moment in its social history. However, it may be the appropriate time to rethink the structural racism built by the colonial process. Based on a historical review of the representation of indigenous and Afro-Brazilian people in Brazilian anthropological photography, we sought to recognize the evolution of the colonial discourse developed in the country. The study was supported by a broad research on emblematic photographs from public and private archives, and the reading of anthropologists and historians, especially Fernando de Tacca (2011). Five phases of this genealogy of coloniality in the country are concluded from this review. Currently, practices that seek to decolonize are perceived from a critical and dialogical rereading of photographic memory that can heal and symbolically transform the identity of the groups violated by colonial history, but a new challenge is interposed from the computer algorithms.