The Museu Paulista, Hermann von Ihering (1850-1930) and the Amerindians

Abstract

The article presents the role of anthropology and ethnography at the Museu Paulista (Brazil) during the administration of Hermann von Ihering (1850-193), between 1894 and 1916. Based on an inventory of the history of the acquisition of ethnographic and anthropological collections, the analysis of Ihering’s writings in the scope of the sciences of man and the examination of primary sources preserved in archives in Germany and in Brazil, I argue that it is possible to understand Ihering’s political and scientific positioning towards Indigenous peoples of Brazil. Thus, the article seeks to contribute to the knowledge of an underexplored facet of the history of the Museu Paulista, and, in a more comprehensive way, to the historiography of anthropology and the history of science in Brazil.