From ethnic invisibility to ethnogenesis: histories and identities of Indians and Blacks in an articulated and comparative approach

Abstract

Different peoples of the American and African continents, generically classified as Indians and Blacks, rebuilt their cultures, identities and social networks in processes of interaction with each other and with other actors in colonial and post-colonial societies in Brazil. Many of them who, for different reasons, were made invisible or self-invisible during the 19th century, reappear today, through ethnogenesis processes, encouraging new studies on their trajectories. With a focus on nineteenth-century Brazil and some incursions to previous and subsequent periods, we intend to analyze the constructions and meanings of images, speeches, silences and forms of ethnic and social classification on Indians and Blacks, in a comparative and articulated way, taking into account their own political and cultural actions that led them to assume or reject the identities attributed to them.